Three Months to Forever
by Tigertopaz-Titanium Banana
Summary: Contin. of Insanely Me's fic Three Months. Alex isn't suicidal. He knows he's just going to die anyway. But Ben doesn't, and Alex isn't about to tell him. What Ben doesn't know won't hurt him, right? Dark!Alex, Cutting, Language, light slash, drug use
1. Terminal

**This fic is dedicated to Insanely Me, whose work I just absolutely adore!**

**Summary: Continuation of Insanely Me's fic **_**Three Months.**_** Alex isn't suicidal. He knows he's just going to die anyway. But Ben doesn't, and Alex isn't about to tell him. What Ben doesn't know won't hurt him, right? '"Jack dies, Alex goes to live with K-Unit" story, with a twist! Dark!Alex AU, Cutting, Language **

**Disclaimer: Not Mine.**

**Now introducing…*drumroll***

**Three Months to Forever Chapter 1: Terminal**

"…cancer…" "…terminal…" "…how long?…" "…three months…"

These words floated through the door into room nine of St. Dominic's. It was well past ten o'clock, and the patients were supposed to have gone asleep by now, which was probably why they were talking about this now.

Inside the door, a fourteen year old was listening with a heavy heart. Alex Rider thought he was about to throw up. And throw up he did.

As he was hurling the contents of his supper into the toilet, he was thinking, _Why is it always me?_

-XD-

"_Hey Jack!" Alex yelled, and then threw his backpack on the floor. When there was silence, he frowned. Usually, Jack would be making supper right about now. "Jack?"_

_He shrugged. He was a spy. His senses were trained to overreact. He should calm down. Maybe Jack had gone on a date with a "hot guy" that she had forgotten to tell Alex about. He started on his homework._

_-XD-_

_Five hours later, the teen was going nearly insane. Jack still hadn't shown up. As much as Alex resented it, he had to dial MI6._

"_Hello, this is the Royal and General Bank, how may I help you?" the calm and collected voice said._

"_WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS, MCDONALD'S? I need to speak to Blunt, now!" the teen spy screamed at the poor lady._

"_I'm sorry, there is no-"_

"_To hell with that! Put me on the line, now!" he yelled._

"_Do you have authorization?" The annoying voice said in a monotone voice._

"_MY GOD LADY! If you must in-SIST, it's…" Alex sighed. "Agent Rider, Agent Number 71924, security level 3. Now will you PLEASE hook me up to Blunt!" He was in a harry, dammit!_

"_I'm sorry. Please wait a minute while you are being connected."_

_Alex actually screamed that time in frustration. "I DON'T HAVE A FUCKING FIVE MINUTES TO WAIT!"_

_Finally, Blunt picked up the phone. "Hello, Alex. I must say, you sure-"_

"_I DON"T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT THAT! WHERE'S JACK?"_

"_Alex, just calm dow-"_

"_I CAN'T CALM DOWN! MY GUARDIAN AND ONLY SURVIVING RELATIVE LEFT IS MISSING!"_

"_Alex!" A new voice took over. Mrs. Jones. "Settle down. We're going to send out a rescue team. If we don't find her in a week, then you can be worried."_

_I was almost hyperventilating. "But what if you don't find her in a week?"_

"_Then we'll send out stronger forces."_

"_Thanks. I think." I hung the phone up, then collapsed. For now, I was without a guardian._

-XD-

By now, he was simply dry-heaving. _So that's what's wrong with me!_ He thought desperately._ I have- I have- _Alex couldn't even think about it. He barely heard the doctor next to me, telling me to take deep breaths and calm down.

I had been feeling off for weeks now- in fact, since Jack disappeared. It must have been just a coincidence, though. I mean, a person couldn't get terminal cancer from trauma- could they?

The doctor, Dr. Hayward, gently guided me back to the bed. "I'm sorry you had to find out this way. I meant to tell you tomorrow."

"It- It's fine. I probably would have found out some other way otherwise. It's my fault anyway. I shouldn't have been up at this hour." I silently agreed with myself. The last time I had stayed up late in the hospital, it had gotten me kidnapped by some psycho-terrorists.

"Alex…I think you should go to sleep. You've had a stressful night. We'll discuss this tomorrow."

Reluctantly, I turned on my side and fell into a disturbing sleep.

-XD-

_Black mist surrounded him. The blond was in a world of nothingness. Suddenly, out of the mist, a figured appeared. Herod Sayle. "Why hello, Alex." it said mockingly. _

"_Hahaha…" a voice cackled. He gasped. Mr. Grin came sauntering out of the shadows, doing a twisted version of his namesake._

_Dr. Grief and Mrs. Stellenbosch came forward, arms linked. Despite himself, Alex laughed. "Okay, we all know that Voldemort/Harry pairings are weird, but this is just plain nasty." They just sneered at him._

"_Dear Alex. I'm so sorry. Are you alright?" the voice of Alexi Sarov mocked me. Said boy started to back away when the man's ghost, or something, flew straight at me from the black smog._

"_Would you like to try my new video game? I've been dying for someone to test it on." Damien Cray smirked at his somewhat bad joke._

"_I've re-met your father, Alex. He's ended up here, too." yet another voice purred. For the second time, the blond spoke. "I know he didn't end up in hell like you did, BITCH!" Julia Rothman stepped forward to slap me when her colleague appeared._

"_Relax Julia. Hello, Alex. I've been keeping up on all the British fashions, these days, you know." Major Yu stepped towards him, an evil glint in his eye, when two other people knocked him aside._

"_Move over, Yu. Hi, Alex. Been to the zoo lately? I hear the crocodiles had babies." McCain chuckled. The Dr., now Mrs. McCain I guessed, laughed. "We've built a new Poison Dome down here Alex. Welcome to Hell." Alex glared at all of them._

"_Alright, you've all had your laughs. Now please, enlighten me as to what this little adventure to Hell is really about." he demanded._

_Mrs. Rothman pouted. "But Alex, we were going to keep it a surprise!"_

"_Oh, piss off!" an annoyed Sayle snapped. _

"_See, Alex," Sarov explained, "This act is just a sideshow. We're waiting-"_

"_-for the real act to arrive." Cray finished._

"_Okay, I understand the whole thing about you coming to haunt me, but the whole finishing sentences thing is just weird. Seriously. You're evil mad-people, not friends on Barney." That statement had just left his lips when a familiar hand grabbed the front of his shirt. "Jack? Is that…" _

_The statement died on his lips when Alex looked up into the face of Jack._

_Her usually neat fire-red hair was torn in clumps, and her face was streaked with dirt and tears. The teen stared into those blue eyes_ _and saw more than just a spark of madness there. She was broken. Finished._

"_Do you know what you have done to me?" she snarled. "Every time you went off on one of those missions, I died a bit. I finally committed suicide. And now, you must PAY!" _

_She picked him up with superhuman strength. Alex was too horrified at what his adoptive big sister had become. He looked back and saw all of his former enemies following her with what looked like bloodlust._

_Jack took him to a pit where she tossed him in. She-_

"ALEX!"

"Wha-What?" someone was shaking him. He faintly felt tears on my face. Didn't he recognize that voice?

"That sounded like one hell of a dream you had there, Alex." Wait- was that a Liverpudlian accent? "Fox?" Alex croaked.

"Yeah. How are you doing?" his old friend asked. "Oh, just _peachy,_" Alex said sarcastically.

He chuckled. "Nice to know that you're okay."

"Heh, yeah, I guess."

"Hey…" Ben looked pretty nervous, an expression unusual for an MI6 agent. "What's wrong?"

"Well…I heard about your guardian." Instantly, Alex's face turned into a stone mask. "What about her?" he asked coldly.

Pretending to not notice the change in his demeanor, Ben trudged on. "MI6 said you needed a temporary guardian while they looked for Jack. And…I kind of volunteered."

"WHAT?"

"I-Well, I volunteered to be your temporary guardian. Is that alright?"

"Oh! Oh, well, I guess so. I'm sorry about my reaction."

"It's fine… So you accept?"

"Heh. I guess so. Wait!" He remembered what happened last night. No. He would NOT tear up, much less cry, in front of Ben. "Do- um, do you know about my…err…illness?"

"No. What is it?"

Shit. This would make thing harder. At the same though, Alex was secretly glad. Ben wouldn't try to baby him or anything. Good. "Oh, nothing serious." _Just terminal cancer, _he thought with a wry mental smirk.

"Oh. For a moment, I thought you had cancer or something!" Ben joked. Alex forced a small laugh.

"You'll get to come to my house in a week or so. I'll come pick you up then or something."

"Okay. Bye."

"See you, Cub- or, Alex, I should call you." Ben left.

Alex smiled.

-XD-

**EDITED AND BETA'D (by myself): 11-29-2011**

**Please Review! A minute of your time for hours of mine!**

**Tigertopaz- Titanium Banana**


	2. I'm Coming Home?

**Disclaimer: Not Mine.**

**Now introducing…*drumroll***

**Three Months to Forever Chapter 2: I'm Coming….Home?**

"Remind me, why are we at my house?" Alex asked Ben for the tenth time, just to annoy him.

"Bloody hell, Alex! Ju-Just go grab your stuff from your room and get your ass back out here!" Even though the words were meant to sting, Ben messed that up with a big grin. He smirked back, and hopped out of Ben's sleek red Aston Martin Rapide. _I HAVE to ask MI6 to get me one when I'm sixteen._With a pang, he thought, _If I ever live to be sixteen._

Alex got out the key to the house he used to call home. With a small sigh, the teen unlocked it and stepped inside. Wow. The house still smelled like Jack, but it looked like nothing had been used or touched in a long time. He breathed in Jack's scent again. His- the house really brought back strong memories, happy and sad.

There was one memory, a memory of Jack making a cake. "Happy 7th birthday, Alex!" Ian hadn't been there that day, probably on one of his "business trips." Ian hadn't actually been there for him for half of his life, he recalled.

Alex realized he was just standing there, and he decided to start moving. He went upstairs, to his room. The spy stopped in the threshold, looking into the room that he had lived in for the past fourteen years. It seemed that a fine layer of dust covered everything, like the only things that inhabited the room were spiders.

With a start, he realized that he had, once again, zoned out due to memories that this house brought up. Quickly, Alex grabbed his clothes from the dusty drawers of my cabinet and hastily shoved them in my old suitcase.

He was heading out of the house when he stopped. He had wanted to see Jack's room again, for probably the last time, considering how much time he had left to live. _Don't think like that!_ He chided himself. _But it's your fault that she's gone. It's your fault if she's dead already._

Alex dropped his bag in front of the front door and made my way to Jack's room. It, like most of the rest of the house, had the scent of Jack on it. Seeing as he usually never came in here before, Alex hadn't gotten to see what personal touches she had added. A small silver picture frame caught his eye. Picking it up, Alex's eyes widened. It looked like him, but it couldn't have been. This man was older, and Alex knew that he must have been his dad, John Rider. He was standing next to a slightly shorter man, with blond hair and icy blue eyes. Yassen Gregorovitch. It looked like they were on some sort of beach. It looked suspiciously like the one in Venice. Flipping it over, he got a big shock.

On the back, written in a scrawl exactly like his own, was a note. _Me and Yassen at the beach- taken by Julia._

Julia Rothman? It couldn't be. The Julia he had known was heartless, cruel, and insane.

Putting that note out of his mind he took the small frame. However small it was, it was a key to my past.

Yet again, Alex saw the glint of a picture frame, this one gold. It had a picture of his three-year-old self playing with his, at the time, favorite stuffed elephant. Jack was in this picture this time, carrying the toddler on her shoulders with a big grin.

_This is all your fault._ The voice in his head came out of nowhere. _You could have helped her, but you just had to have cancer. She should blame you._

That last ugly thought replayed in Alex's head, over and over, until he heard, _She does blame you._Tears started to well up in his eyes.

"Alex?" He jumped harshly. He hadn't heard Ben enter the house. His spy skills must be getting rusty. Alex turned around to face the other MI6 agent. "Wh-What?"

Ben eyed him suspiciously. Alex realized that he must look weird, standing there holding a random picture. "Are you alright?"

The teen tried to do a convincing fake-laugh, and must have succeeded, since Ben just nodded and said, "Meet you back out at the car."

Damn, he was too good a liar for his own good. He almost wanted people to see him for what he was. A kid. A kid in an adult's world. Beneath the smiles and wise-cracks, he was actually very unstable, and he realized that. _I need to stop hiding these things…but it's so much easier keeping it away from the world… Will someone ever guess my secret? Will someone figure out that I'm dying?_

Quickly, he grabbed his suitcase and practically ran out to the Aston Martin before the memories could overcome him.

"Are you okay?" Ben asked the blond. "You look a bit peaky."

Alex put on a fake smile. "I'm fine. It's nothing. Come on, let's get going. I want to see your house.

Luckily, his time as a spy had paid off, and he was able to pull it off without a hitch. Still, though, Ben looked suspicious, but sighed and began driving. "You have too many secrets, Alex."

Alex said nothing, Ben was right. He couldn't deny it.

Neither of said anything during the rest of the drive to Ben's place.

-XD-

"Welcome to my humble abode," Ben said formally with a mock sweep of his arm and a bow. Alex took it in. It was a medium sized house, and apparently had an upstairs, several hiding places in the floor, and several weapons everywhere. "Wow, Ben, you need to find new hiding places."

"You found then already?" Ben asked with a somewhat guilty, somewhat dumbfounded stare.

"No shit, Sherlock." Alex teased. Ben laughed, and then cut off. "Oh, fuck."

"What?" "Well, I…kind of forgot to tell the rest of K-Unit that I basically adopted you?" it was a statement, but Ben phrased it as a question.

"Oh." Alex deadpanned. "I'm doomed," he said, only half-kidding.

"How about we just cross that bridge when we get there." Ben said wisely. Alex just rolled his eyes. "Besides, I have to go find my room."

"It's right in here." Ben steered him to a royal blue colored room. There was a small queen-sized bed on the side, also with blue covers. "Thanks, Ben!"

"You're welcome." With a smile, Ben left the room so he could have some peace.

With a small sigh, Alex dumped his stuff to the side and plopped down on the bed. _It's times like these when I can forget about having cancer._

He fell asleep almost at once.

-XD-

**CHAPTER EDITED AND BETA'D (by me): 11-29-11**

**Please Review! A minute of your time for hours of mine!**

**Tigertopaz- Titanium Banana**


	3. Wakey Wakey!

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

**Now introducing…*drumroll***

**Three Months to Forever Chapter 3: Repercussions of Life in the General**

"Rise and shine, Cub!" With those words, Alex found himself drenched in stone cold water.

"Fuck! What the hell?"

"Gotcha Cub," the voice said teasingly.

"Ben! What the hell? Do you normally wake your guests up like this?" _Not that I'll be here for long…_

"Don't be ridiculous, Alex! It's twelve o'clock! Plus, you're going to be here for a while, so the least you could do is _pretend_ this is home, okay?" "Alright," Alex mumbled.

Ben smiled, then practically skipped out of the room. Alex just shook his head. Didn't older _usually_ mean smarter?

-XD-

"What is that _smell_?" Alex groaned as he found his way into the kitchen. "Did you try to fry a skunk's tail or something? I'm sure even Wolf could do better!" He paused, and reconsidered. "Actually, I think you could cook better than Wolf, definitely. His sandwiches could make the devil die."

Ben just smirked. "Alex, say hello to my famous homemade scrambled eggs!"

"_More like famous toxic waste! _And anyway, isn't it lunchtime?" Alex muttered. "Hey, I resent that!" Ben said indignantly.

Alex smiled. Ben was actually be fun to be around, once you got past the "tough MI6 operative" exterior.

"Hey, um, Alex…?" Ben asked nervously.

"What?"

"Well, um…"

"Well what? Spit it out already, Ben!"

"I…kind of invited K-Unit over?" Ben admitted.

"WHAT? When are they coming?" Alex half-screamed.

Ben looked a bit sheepish, but answered, "A week."

"_Next week_! BEN!"

_Alex POV_

With that, I started chasing Ben around hom- _No! I will not think like that! I can't afford to get too attached to anything! I have three damn months! _I scolded myself.

I started chasing Ben around _the house,_ making him squeal uncharacteristically. "Did you just _squeal?"_ I asked.

Of course, Ben shook his head as he stopped to catch his breath.

Pretty soon, I had him stuck in a headlock. "Admit it, you squealed!" I growled playfully. "No! I will not surrender that easily!" he cried.

"Yes you will!" With that, I twisted Ben's arm back to a painful angle- not enough to break it, but enough to get my point across.

"Okay! Okay! I give! I squealed!" Ben yelled. I quickly let his arm go. "Where's a video camera when you need one?" Ben's eyes widened. "You wouldn't DARE!" I laughed, something I hadn't done in a while.

_This feeling of- contentment won't last long, _I reminded myself. Still, I forced myself to put a smile on my face and be happy, just for this one moment in time.

-XD-

_Still Alex POV_

Three days passed quickly. I was astounded by the "normal" life that Ben lived. Even if he was a spy, he still managed to do "normal" things, like hang out with buddies [he had gone to a bar- forbidding me, of course- and came home ridiculously smashed.], and just lay around, basically. I supposed that the teenage hormones running high at Brooklyn were part of the problem.

"Alex!" I jerked my head up. It was Ben, as usual. "We'd better start getting ready."

"Ready? For what?" I asked. "For K-Unit's visit, dumb-arse!" he said lightly.

I was too curious to care to think of a comeback, so instead I said, "Why? They won't get here for four days."

Ben chuckled. "Yeah, I know. But I forgot to mention, they're staying for about three months, then going back to Brecon Beacons."

I froze. _Three months? _If Blunt had wanted me to go back to Brecon Beacons, then that idea was trashed. I'd be dead by then. Of course, with my luck of the devil, I might actually live. Then again, I might want to die, seeing as I'd just have to go to Hell's Pit [as I now decided to call it], and I'd have to do the assault course, which was as bad, if not worse, than hell. I looked up and saw that Ben was waiting for me to comment.

"Why?" I asked again. Usually once soldiers completed their training in Hell's Pit, they had completed it for good.

"Well, apparently, Blunt wants them back there."

"What? Blunt has control over the SAS!"

"Not exactly control, just a good amount of influence. K-Unit is supposedly going on some kind of mission or whatever."

"Well that's shit. Next thing you know, he'll have control over McDonald's!" I snorted.

"Tell me about it," Ben groaned.

Suddenly, I thought of something. "Wait, since you left the SAS, who's filled your spot in K-Unit?"

Ben sighed. "Well, I haven't heard much, but what I have heard isn't good. It's amazing he got in the SAS at all. From the rumors, which might not be true, mind you, he supposedly does drugs, is very violent, and has a mean temper. His codename is Rat."

I snorted. "Rat? What, did they run out of animal names or something?"

Ben chuckled. "I honestly don't know, Alex."

-XD-

_1 day until K-Unit arrives_

Alex was officially panicking. He just _knew _that some bad thing or another was going to happen. That Rat person seemed suspicious.

Ben was panicking, too. According to him, _"You __**never **__want to see Eagle drunk."_

"I'm serious. He will hit on anything with two legs, and is extremely hyper," he reminded Alex for the tenth time that day- and it was only seven o'clock.

"Yes, I know, Ben!" Alex growled. "Thanks for giving me nasty and horrifying mental images."

Secretly, he was worried about K-Unit's reaction to him.

"You'll be fine, Alex!" Ben had said with a cheery smile. He had then proceeded to throw his arm around Alex's shoulder. "Oh, shove off, Ben!" Alex had retorted, but numbed the stinging words with a smile. Ben was nice to be around.

_But, _he had to remind himself, _This won't be for long. The doctor said…_

"Why so down, Alex?" Ben asked with a frown. He didn't like to see Alex sad.

"Nothing," Alex mumbled.

Ben stared. "It can't be just nothing that's bothering you, Alex. Spill."

Alex scrambled to think of an answer. "Ummm…I just scared of K-Unit's reaction to me?"

That must have been an adequate enough reason, because Ben, the ever-bright and cheery soul [when off the field], just winked, and said. "Well, we might just have to take advantage of that, won't we?"

They shared a secret smile.

-XD-

**EDITED: June 24, 2011**

**Please Review! A minute of your time for hours of mine!**

**Tigertopaz- Titanium Banana**


	4. Girl Troubles

**Disclaimer: Not Mine**

**Now introducing…*drumroll***

**Three Months to Forever Chapter 4: Girl Troubles**

_1 Hours Until K-Unit Arrive…_

"No way, Ben. I refuse. I am **not **doing this. Forget it!" Alex insisted. He was standing in front of a large mirror, and even Ben had to hide a giggle.

Inside, Alex was seething and plotting Ben's gruesome, bloody, long process of dying by Alex's hand. He was fine with a little prank. Hell, he would do anything to see K-Unit humiliated. Anything…but this. This, he could not do.

"Alex, Alex, Alex," Ben clucked like a mother hen. "You don't mind a bomb, but when faced with makeup, you run?" When Alex just growled silently, he added with a smirk, "You _know _you want to." Ben had to duck as a pillow came flying at his head.

"Remind me as to _why _I have to suffer through this…this…_monstrosity_?"

Ben chuckled some more. "I'm surprised that the teenager knows a four-syllable word!"

"I'll _be _surprised if you can even remember your _name _after I'm through with you. Hey, and anyway, why do we even have to do this?"

Ben stared at him as if he had grown two heads. "Are you crazy? To get revenge, of course!"

"This will be more embarrassing for _me _than it will be for K-Unit."

Ben smiled. "Two birds with one stone, Alex!" And before Alex could catch him, bounded to the doorway, stopped at the threshold, and said, "Remember, love, we're a couple!" Then, he waltzed out of the room.

Alex just flopped onto the queen sized mattress behind him and held his head in his hands.

_Why me?_

-XD-

_One Hour Earlier_

"Ooooh! Ooooh! I have an idea!" said a _very _excited Ben, acting like an overexcited schoolboy_._

"_What is it already?" _Alex half-screamed. Ben had been like this all day.

"I was thinking…" Ben paused for dramatic effect.

"Wow! Look at that! The ex-SAS grunt was _actually thinking," _smirked Alex, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Ben chose to ignore that comment. "Well, my idea…was that you could dress up as a girl!"

It took a moment for that to sink in. "WHAT?"

"You could go as a girl! It's been a while, they'll never recognize you!"

"Yes, but what if they actually do?" Alex fretted. He was trying to see a hole in the plan, but so far, Ben's idea was winning so far.

"Well…maybe…you could pose as my lover?" Ben suggested.

Alex actually stood up and slapped him.

"Ow! What the fuck was that for?"

"For being an arse."

"Well, it's a good idea."

"No, it isn't!"

"I dare you to think of something better."

Alex could see that he was losing. "Um…how about we convince them that there are- damn, I don't know!- maybe…chicks in the yard and they have to get naked and go after them?"

Ben wasn't convinced. "That's all you have?" Before Alex could protest, he said, "I have an idea. How about we flip a coin?"

Alex considered the deal. "Okay… but I get heads!"

Ben smirked as he pulled out a coin and flipped it. It landed on the table and Ben picked it up. "Tails."

"Fuck!" Alex cursed.

"That's the way it goes, Alex."

Ben smirked as he pocketed the one-sided coin.

-XD-

Alex still couldn't think of any flaws in the plan. Except one.

"Ben, there is a slight problem here."

"What?"

"Well, there is the slight problem that I don't look anything like a girl, and I _definetly _don't have-have- ARGH! I mean to say," he cleared his throat. "I definetly don't have woman parts."

Ben wasn't fazed. "We could fix that."

"Wha- wha- EWWW! Ben! That's diagusting! I'm going to have horrible mental images for the rest of my life!"

"That's not what I meant." Alex couldn't believe that Ben was still saying all of this so seriously.

"Do you even have any girl's clothes here?"

"Ummm…"

"Ben, why in the lowest fiery depths of _hell_ would you have girl's clothes at your house?"

_Now _Ben looked uncomfortable. "Ummm…for a mission?"

"Wait…" Alex's brain was trying to process that piece of information. "WAIT! You had to dress up like a girl for a mission?"

"Yes," Ben said grumpily.

"Does that mean that Ben had to put on makeup? Did you get any pictures?"

Ben seemed to realize that they were going to go a bit off-topic. 'Hey, um…you should probably start changing. We only have two hours."

He led the way into his room, then motioned for Alex to sit down on his bed.

Ben then proceeded to grab several sparkly, shiny pieces of clothing from his wardrobe.

He laid them out on the parts of the bed that Alex wasn't already occupying. Alex just stared. And stared.

Finally, he choked out, "You expect me to wear _this_?" To prove his point, he held up a _very _short, sparkly, and pink miniskirt.

Ben grinned. Payback time. "If I could wear it, so can you. In factr, why don't you wear that when the unit shows up tonight?"

Alex growled.

-XD-

_1 Hour, 30 minutes until K-Unit arrives_

" We have to do your hair. It need to be longer." Ben criticized.

"Whatever," Alex said sullenly.

Ben suddenly snapped his fingers. "I've got it!"

He left the room for a moment, then returned with a bundle of looked like…_fur_ in his arms.

"What the hell, Ben?"

"Relax, Alex. It's just a wig,"

And indeed it was. It seemed that Ben had every disguise you could ever need at his house.

Alex tried the uncomfortable, scratchy thing on. "This itches!"

"Well, don't itch it anyway." Ben reprimanded.

"Thanks, _mother._"

The wig had turned Alex's hair a stunning platinum blond.

"This wig actually looks…nice," he commented.

"Of course it does! If you're pretending to be my lover, then you have to at least look nice."

"Are you saying my hair's ugly?"

"No! You would look great in what ever you wore…" Ben realized he was slightly drooling, so he decided to add something to that sentence. "Besides, I could have chosen the red haired wig for you."

"NO!" Alex shrieked. Ben laughed for what seemed like the thousandth time that day. Did he usually laugh that much? Or was it because he was around Alex?

-XD-

_5 Minutes Until K-Unit's Arrival_

Alex checked his "hair" in the mirror one more time. To his dismay, Ben had planned on fooling K-Unit for one whole week. Alex certainly hoped not. Even though skirts were nice, he'd rather get back into his trousers.

In the end, he looked…rather nice. "Alexa" had on some black stilettos, the same short sparkly pink miniskirt, and a black top with some kind of obscure glitter design on it. "Her" hair was done up in some kind of twisted braid of sorts. [Alex would never know how Ben knew how to do hair…]

The idea was for Alexa to appear as air headed as possible, then at the end of the week, do laser-tag or paintball. Then, he would show them his power. Alex had shared more than one evil laugh with Ben at the thought of Wolf being shown up by a "girl."

Alexa sighed, fixed her shirt so it didn't look _too _provocative [Ben had been disguised as a stripper, much to Alex's horror], and got ready to re-meet K-Unit.

-XD-

**I think you all get that Ben is doing this more to see Alex embarrassed [in a nice way, of course] than K-Unit. He might also be doing this for his own benefit, too…**

**EDITED: June 24, 2011**

**Please Review! A minute of your time for hours of mine!**

**Tigertopaz- Titanium Banana**

**\**


	5. Lip Gloss and Lovers

**This fic is dedicated to Insanely Me, whose work I just absolutely adore!**

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

**Now introducing…*drumroll***

**Three Months to Forever Chapter 5: Lip Gloss and Lovers**

_10 minutes until K-Unit's arrival_

_Countdown: 83 days_

Alex sighed as he crossed out yet another day on his calendar. He had been diagnosed with cancer May 1, and this was the eighth day he had been living with Ben…

But he couldn't worry about that now- he had a show to put on. Alexa- and Ben- were waiting. He sighed and turned to the mirror for one last clothes/hair check.

-XD-

_K-Unit's arrival_

_Day 1 of 7 _

When Alex got downstairs, he wasn't expecting Ben to grab him and fling him in his lap. Neither was her expecting him to lightly kiss him on the lips.

"What the HELL?" he shrieked, scrambling off of Ben's lap and onto the nearest armchair.

"We're supposed to be a couple, _dear,"_ Ben reminded Alex.

"Oh." Feeling slightly stupid, Alex climbed back onto Ben's lap. I wasn't as if he didn't enjoy the kiss…It was just unexpected, that's all.

Ben, however, was having different thoughts. _Yes, I finally kissed him! Granted, he think's it's for show, but I still kissed him!_

"Ben!"

The voice startled him out of his daze. "What?"

"You were staring."

"Oh."

Alex noted with slight amusement that Ben had a faint trace of [again] sparkly pink lip gloss lining his lips. He was quickly starting to get sick of the color.

The doorbell rang, but it wasn't the usual _"ding, dong!" _of a normal doorbell. Instead, a speaker just inside the door yelled in a strong voice, "**Someone's here!" **The two had to clap their hands over their ears to muffle the sound. Alex supposed that Ben had had Smithers fix him up something. It would certainly wake any man sleeping.

"Damn it, I thought I turned the alarm to 'normal'!" Ben complained as he started to get up. Alex felt like complaining after his source of heat had left him.

Alex watched Ben punch in a couple of random button and then unlock and open the door. He couldn't stop the feeling of dread coursing though his body. _Why the fuck did I agree to do this?_

He heard a bright, cheery voice say, "Hey, Ben! Long time, no see!" Probably Eagle.

The next voice had a slight Scottish accent to it. Snake. Alex wasn't surprised that he remembered the information. He _was _a spy, after all. "Hey, pal!" he heard him say.

_Alex POV _

Wolf came next. I noticed his gruff tones and slight Spanish accent. The team really had been of many backgrounds, hadn't it? "Hi, Fox." Well, Wolf never had really been very talkative.

I kind of expected Ben to come in by now, but I had forgotten someone.

"Hi, I'm Rat. Nice to meet you."

I recoiled at the sound. Rat had sort of a greasy-sounding voice, slick like oil and smooth like a snake. It should have been nice, but instead, my shields were going up. This guy just _sounded_ like he was up to no good.

I heard Ben close the door, and knew they were coming in here. _Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!_

Ironically, as they were about two seconds away from walking in and seeing me, I heard Eagle say, "So, Ben, have you gotten hitch-"

They had just stepped into the room. "Hello?" I said weakly, trying desperately not to make it sound like I already knew these people. God, I must have sounded like an airhead. But that was desired effect, right? I really hated Ben right now.

"So who are you? You look really strong," I gushed. I was really overdoing it, wasn't I? Ben also threw me an exasperated look, as if to say, _I didn't tell you to be that stupid!_

"Guys, this is Alexa. Alexa, this is Wolf, Eagle," he pointed to each one in turn, "Snake, and Rat." His nose slightly wrinkled as he said the name. I could tell that Wolf's did too.

"Nice to meet you!" I said perkily. When I looked away, I rolled my eyes, but didn't miss the looks that Wolf, Snake, and Eagle gave each other.

_She's an airhead. _Snake.

_She's an idiot. _Predictably, Wolf.

_She's an arsehole. _Typical Eagle.

I turned back to them. "Well, it's nice to meet you all. Ben, I'll just be…_upstairs,_" I winked at him. Before I could go, Ben drew me in for a long kiss. I could see over Ben's shoulder- and the view was very satisfying.

K-Unit's faces [excluding Rat, of course] were, to say lightly, shocked. Eagle, being the most expressive of them all, had his mouth wide open. Snake had his eyes wide open, and a somewhat disapproving expression on his face. Wolf looked like he was about to spontaneously combust right then and there. For some strange reason, Rat had a somewhat…pleased expression. It unsettled me, but I put it in the back of my mind for later.

I broke the kiss, and went out of the room. I didn't however, go upstairs. The conversation was going to be way too pleasing.

As soon as K-Unit thought I was gone, they assaulted Ben with questions and yells.

"_What the bloody hell, Ben?"_

"_You fucking pedophile-"_

"_I can't believe-"_

"_Have you gotten in her skirt yet?"_

The last comment came from Eagle, and however disgusted I was with him, I risked a peek anyway. Wolf and Snake had just rounded on Eagle, who started backing away.

"_You aren't exactly helping things right now!" _Wolf bellowed, while Rat just continued to take in the scene.

Snake turned back to Ben. "Since my colleague is obviously going to start having an heart attack if he tries to talk, I will ask them for him." he took a breath.

"_What in the lowest depths of hell was that? _Are you trying to play _007_? How many girls have you had over here since you left the SAS?"

Ben was looking extremely uncomfortable right now, and I couldn't blame him. I had never seen an angry Snake in person, but now, he would make eight-year-olds run for their mummies.

"Hey! Alexa is really nice and brave," he defended himself, but I could hear Wolf snort in the background. "She's actually a nice person. And for your information, she was the first girlfriend I've had in a long damn time."

"Huh, nice. More like a complete imbecile," Rat spoke up for the first time. "Does she even know who you really work for?"

I could see Wolf utter something and nod. Damn, he could really get on my nerves sometimes.

Ben, however, skillfully avoided the question. "I really don't think that matters in this point in time. I mean. we'd only gone out a few times before now. I'm not looking that far into the future."

For some reason, I felt a little hurt by the statement. But I shook the feeling off. _Eighty-three days. That's all the time I have left. I shouldn't get attached to things._

"That really doesn't matter. We know that you're allowed to have girlfriends and we respect that. What we don't respect is that your so-called girlfriend is probably no older than _**eighteen fucking years old!**_"

I was quietly impressed. Did I really look that old? _Well, it's probably all the missions and shit that have made me look so grown-up._

I decided to make my grand entrance then, before Ben go severely injured or something.

"Why are you guys yelling at Ben? He didn't do anything wrong," I protest in a falsetto voice that I am sure Ben is going to tease me about later.

The men exchanged glances. "Ummm…"

Eagle piped up, "We were wondering if the relationship is voluntary."

They all gave him dirty looks.

"_Whaaat?" _he whined.

Wolf rolled his eyes. "Heaven forbid. And is it?"

I wasn't prepared for the sudden question. "Wh-What?"

Snake quickly cut in. "We-_cough cough- _well, what Eagle said."

It took me a while. "What Eagle sai- Oh! Oh, hot damn, it's sure as hell voluntary." I purred. Just to "prove" my point, I pulled Ben in for a long, steamy kiss. I could have sworn I saw his eyes bulge a little bit, but he sure didn't complain.

"Now, if you'll excuse us, we have some _things _to talk about." I stared at Ben pointedly.

Eagle elbowed Wolf. "Are you sure that's _all _they're going to do?" he asked suggestively.

"Shut up! Now you've given me a very- bad- mental image!" Wolf whined. I smirked very ungirlishly, then dragged Ben upstairs to have a "talk."

-XD-

**EDITED: June 24, 2011**

**Please Review! A minute of your time for hours of mine!**

**Tigertopaz- Titanium Banana**


	6. Bad Birds and Animals Gone Awry

**This fic is dedicated to Insanely Me, whose work I just absolutely adore!**

**Disclaimer: No.**

**Now introducing…*drumroll***

**Three Months to Forever Chapter 6: Bad Birds and Animals Gone Awry**

_Day 2_

_Countdown: 82 days_

Alex sighed. How was he ever going to survive this week? It was only the second day and already he was absolutely sick of K-Unit.

-XD-

_The Night Before_

"_So what are the sleeping arrangements?" Alex asked. Actually, he and Ben were the only ones still conscious. Everyone else had either been knocked out, had fallen asleep, or just passed out._

_The credits of __**Scream 3 **__had just come rolling on. Popcorn was strewn all over the floor, and a half-finished game of Monopoly lay abandoned on one of Ben's coffee tables. It looked like Major Yu had dropped Royal Blue straight on the house. "How are we __**ever **__going to get this all cleaned up?" Alex whined._

-XD-

_5 Hours Earlier_

"_Remind me to __**never **__get K-Unit smashed again," Ben groaned. This was one of the most exhausting party he'd ever been to, mentally and physically. Eagle had been bouncing off the walls like a crazed chimpanzee. Wolf had been exceedingly snappy, and Snake had played "mother" on them, telling them in a drunken slur how to dress wounds. Wolf had finally knocked him out by smashing a beer bottle over his head. Even Ben was a little tipsy, but he was surprisingly mature when he was drunk, but kept his head. [or at least some of it.] Rat was still very quiet and secretive, which still unsettled Alex. There was something off about the man…_

_Ben and Alex had learned the hard way that when Wolf was smashed, you shouldn't go anywhere near him. Wolf had nearly strangled a "frightened" Alexa for suggesting that they do makeovers._

_Alex had had a hard time resisting the urge to punch all of them in their faces. It was especially hard to pretend to be scared by the cheesy effects of __**Scream 3, **__but he must have been a good actor- or actress-, because K-Unit had been annoyed enough.__Every time something "scary" had popped up, Alexa had screamed. Loudly. After a while, Eagle joined in too. Surprisingly enough, it was Rat who had punched him in the stomach, causing Eagle to double up and run to the bathroom._

_Alex had hoped that Eagle had puked up the remains of the alcohol in his system, but sadly, he was wrong. Eagle had come back as cheerful as ever. He wondered if Eagle was on crack or something._

_Rat had suggested that they play a game of "I Never," but was quickly shouted down by Alex. The last thing they needed was for them to get more drunk._

_Then, it happened. Alex was staring at Rat when he saw something. A flash of white powder was sticking out of a bag in Rat's pocket. Was that what he thought it was? Should he say something?_

_Just as he was about to speak up, he was interrupted by a loud whoop. Apparently Eagle thought it would be fun to start pole dancing- on something he would rather not identify._

_Wolf, surprisingly, was the one to whoop. Was there more to the eye than everyone else saw? _

_Putting those…disturbing thoughts aide, Alex moved to separate Eagle form the…object, which proved to be a difficult and embarrassing task. He noted, with a certain amount of protestation, that Ben was watching him with an amused expression glued on is face, but was in no means trying to get up and help him._

"_What? Alexa! You're ruining our fun!" Eagle protested. Alex rolled his eyes. He wanted to scream and leave the country._

_Instead, he said very calmly and girlishly or Eagle, "Hey! Chill! Let's listen to, um, some Britney Spears!" Okay, not the best idea in the world._

_Snake managed to find a CD of Britney Spears in one of Ben's drawers. Alex was now seriously doubting Ben's sexuality._

_Snake popped the CD into the player, and soon, her song __**Hold it Against Me **__was blaring throughout the house. Alex was faintly surprised that the police hadn't come to arrest them all yet._

_Eagle, to his complete and utter horror, had started singing along with the music. _

"_Shut up! You sound like a dying mother fucking whale!" Wolf had bellowed._

_Eagle, for once, actually listened and started doing more interesting things. Like trying to proposition Alex. Alex looked over at Ben with an expression of complete horror that said only one thing. Help!_

"_Hey, stop hitting on my girlfriend!" Ben "protested." Eagle slowly backed off with a pouting expression. Alex's eyes were still wide. Had Eagle really- _

_Alex mentally shook his head. The mental images inside of his brain were enough to give nightmares to Voldemort._

_Ben had taken him up to "their" bedroom to recover a bit. _

_When Alex had come back down, it seemed that they had all decided to watch a movie. _

_**Scream 3.**_

_The good thing about the movie was that it got everyone to stop destroying the house. Ben had popped popcorn, and Rat was now munching on it, refusing to let anyone near it._

_The bad thing was that Wolf, being one of those verbal people, wouldn't shut up. He would always make some comment every two seconds._

"_No! No, you bloody idiot! Don't do that!"_

"_I wouldn't be as stupid as that."_

"_Don't touch that!"_

"_Even I wouldn't be as dumb as that."_

_Finally, Snake had to protest._

"_WOLF! Shut the fucking hell up!" he roared._

_Even Wolf fell silent._

_The rest of the movie passed without a hitch- if you don't count Rat knocking Eagle unconscious after he had tried to hit on Alexa again, Snake falling asleep, Wolf simply falling asleep, and Rat passing out from drinking too much beer._

"_All in all, it went rather well," Ben commented._

_Alex just stared at him._

-XD-

_Day Two Again_

Alex was getting a headache just from remembering last night's catastrophe. He was pretty sure that he was the first one up. He, unlike all the others people currently in the household, was wise enough not to drink at all. Wolf had teased him about it, saying that he was too much of a "girl."

Alex had just smirked.

From all around the household, he could hear the moans and groans of various people waking up, no doubt with massive hangovers.

Before long, he heard four massive identical yells.

"WHAT THE HELL?"

-XD-

_Previous Night_

"_Where should we put them? You can't just expect me to let them sleep here," Alex pointed out to Ben._

"_No," Ben said with an evil grin, "We can do worse."_

_Five minutes later saw Alex and Ben hauling the last body up the stairs. _

"_Put him on the right side," Ben instructed Alex. They had put all of them in the same king-sized bed._

_Ben eyed the four uncurious men. "Drape his arm over his waist." he told Alex._

_Alex smirked and obliged._

-XD-

_Present Day [again]_

If Alex was correct, Rat should be waking up with Eagle's head on his chest, and his own arm draped over Wolf's waist. Snake's leg would be in-between Wolf's thighs. Wolf would have another…part of his anatomy _very _close to Snake's. Eagle would be almost licking a bare Rat's chest. It was, all in all, a very compromising and embarrassing situation.

He, however, didn't really have room to talk. He was still dressed in that same ridiculous skirt and shirt, and in Ben's bed. He had agreed to sleep there, because it would make their story seem more convincing. It didn't take a lot of convincing on Ben's part though.

He froze as Wolf's angry voice rang through the hallway.

"BEN! You are going to DIE."

**EDITED: June 24, 2011**

**Please Review! A minute of your time for hours of mine!**

**Tigertopaz- Titanium Banana**


	7. Strippers and Chocolate Cakes

**This fic is dedicated to Insanely Me, whose work I just absolutely adore!**

**Disclaimer: Nope.**

**Now introducing…*drumroll***

**Three Months to Forever Chapter 7: Strippers and Blackmail**

_Day 2_

_Countdown: 82 days_

"BEN! You are going to DIE."

Alex sat straight up in bed when he heard those words. _Oh, shit! _A mad Wolf was **not **something he had counted on seeing during their stay.

Quickly, he nudged Ben. _"Wake up, you big oaf! Now!" _he whisper-yelled. He could hear footsteps in the hallway, head toward them.

"Huh? Wha?" Ben mumbled. Obviously, he wasn't a morning person.

"Wolf's up. And mad," Alex said desperately. The footsteps were definetly getting louder.

"Oh," Ben said. That explained it.

They were both trying to think of things to do- mainly run and hide- but Wolf burst into the door.

"What. The. Hell. Was. This?" he screamed at the terrified "couple" on the bed.

"Um…" Alexa scrambled for an excuse. "It was Ben's idea?"

Wolf looked like he was about to explode. He had probably already blown a few fuses. "Ben?" he asked, turning to said person.

"I've got pictures!" Ben grinned cheekily, pulling out photographs from somewhere.

"ARRGH! Give me those!" Wolf yelled. Alex wouldn't be surprised if he went deaf after today.

Wolf ended up chasing Ben around the bedroom, Alexa watching on in amusement. _Do SAS men really act this immature off-duty?_

Then, he remembered something. Since Ben had made him dress up like this, it was only fair that he got to humiliate Ben a little too, right?

Silently, he sneaked out of the room

-XD-

"Ah HA!" Alex cried as he found the pictures, then sneezed. He had searched the whole house for this 3x5's, and had finally found them, in the attic. Ben probably hadn't ever wanted anyone to look at these. And Alex could see why.

Grinning like a fool, he practically skipped downstairs into the kitchen.

"Oh _guys!_" he practically sang. All of the men appeared, and were more than a bit confused at Alexa's strange behavior.

"What, Alexa?" Wolf panted. He and Ben were more than a little sweaty from their little chase around the house. "Damn, I need a shower," Wolf complained, after having sniffed his armpit and recoiling from the stench.

"Just wait! You need to see this," Alex grinned again, while K-Unit exchanged looks. What could be that important?

In slow motion, Alex pulled from behind his back the photographs and placed them on the table. Like a herd of wildebeest, they all crowded Alex to get a closer look.

"What the hell is…" Ben voice died off as he recognized who exactly was the star of that picture. He fixed Alex a death glare. _"You little minx!"_

Alex, who had seen far worse glares in his life, mainly Wolf's, just grinned.

"Who is this?" Eagle questioned.

"No! Don't-" Ben attempted to grab the pictures and make a run for it, but Alex was too fast. He snatched the pictures out of Ben's reach.

"Don't you recognize him? Look a bit closer!"

The SAS men grunted, craning to see the figure in the rectangle of color Alexa was currently holding up.

"Looks like Ben," Rat muttered.

"Hey!" Snake exclaimed. "It is!"

"Bloody hell! If I had seen this sooner, I would have let you in on some of the action!" Eagle teased, obviously referring to the drunken pole dance the previous night.

Wolf was looking on with a silent mixture of amusement and horror.

The picture was, in fact, of Ben, with a few noticeable differences.

The person in the photograph, had very long, dark, curly hair. She- well, _he _was up against a pole, and was half-naked. What he did have on was a _very _thin red thong and a pink bra on, with various other articles of clothing at his feet that Alex didn't even _want_ to identify.

All in all, Alex had found the picture with Ben as a stripper in it.

"Well, at least we know what Ben does in his spare time," Eagle joked.

"We can use it as blackmail!" Alex cried joyously.

Ben growled, then tried to snatch it from Alexa's grip, again unsuccessfully, entailing another chase around the house.

-XD-

The rest of the day passed without too many flaws, much to Ben and Alex's relief. Alex was slightly frustrated, because it turned out that every person in the house, excluding him, was horrible at anything concerning cooking. How they all survived was beyond him. Maybe they ordered take-out. The funny thing was, Rat always wanted to put the strangest ingredients in whatever was cooking. Alex was still very suspicious.

He was the only one that could cook something without burning it- even water. Jack had made sure of that.

_Jack._

A pang went through his chest as he thought of the name. He was off having a good time with Ben, and she might be dead. He frowned. Why hadn't Drevin been in his dream that night at the hospital? Well, the less nightmares he had, the better he could sleep.

"What's the matter, Alexa?" Ben came in and put a hand around his waist. Even if they were only pretending to be a couple, they weren't going to take chances with K-Unit.

"Oh, nothing," Alex murmured, stirring the spaghetti noodles that Eagle had insisted he make, lost in his thought and memories.

"_Hi, Ian!" Jack cried. Ian had just come stumbling in the door._

"_What in the world happened to you? You look like you've been hit by a bus," Jack remarked as she took inventory of Ian. Ian just sighed. "I feel like I have too."_

"_Ian!" An eight-year-old Alex came bounding downstairs from his room, his smile lighting up the room. He bounded over to Ian and gave him a hug._

"_Hi, Alex," Ian laughed and ruffled his nephew's hair. Alex frowned and automatically tried to straighten out his hair. "Why is your arm all bandaged up? Is it broken?"_

"_Yes, Alex. I had a little accident over in India."_

_It was technically true. Ian had actually gotten shot in the arm while on a dangerous mission involving the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA)._

"_Oh," Alex frowned again, but brightened up. "Do you want to go play football?"_

_Jack, who had been watching with sympathy and interest the whole time, finally intervened. "Alex, go to your room for a second. I need to talk to Ian," she said with a pointed glare at said man. Alex pouted a bit, but headed back towards his room._

"_Alex," she called, not wanting to ruin his mood, "I think this calls for a celebratory dinner of spaghetti and cake for dessert!"_

_Alex instantly was all smiles. Jack's spaghetti was the best! He bounded back upstairs._

_-XD-_

_Dinner that night was great. Alex was radiating happiness. "Thanks for the meal, Jack!" he said enthusiastically._

_Ian and Jack exchanged a secret glance. It was great that Alex was this cheerful. Jack had told Ian that whenever he was gone, Alex was always in a more sour mood._

_They all finished eating the spaghetti, and Jack went into the kitchen. Minutes later, she whisked out, carrying a large platter full of chocolate cake._

"_Votre gâteau, monsieur!" _**(1)**

"_Pourquoi français?" Ian asked._

"_Parce que je l'ai dit!" Jack said teasingly. "Maintenant, enterrer!"_

_Alex took a huge bite of the delicious chocolate cake. "Ceci goûte fantastique. Merci!" His French accent was perfect, Ian having drilled it into him and actually taken him to France for a while._

"_Mon plaisir, Alex."_

"Alex!"

Alex started, shaking his head to clear his mind a bit. What had happened there? He had completely zoned out. "Que?"

"What the hell?"

"Oh, sorry. What?"

"I've been trying to talk to you for the last ten minutes!"

"Oh." Alex felt a little sheepish. Had he really been out of it that long?

"You stupid arsehole!" Ben ranted.

"What?" Now Alex felt a little hurt.

"You scared me! You're just standing there, stirring those bloody spaghetti noodles!"

"Oh." Alex felt stupid. Was "oh" really the only thing he knew how to say? It seemed that way, presently.

"Is it ready yet?" Eagle came running into the room. Ben and Alex both mentally sighed. The man acted like he had drunk a whole packet of Red Bulls.

"Um…No, not yet, Eagle."

"But it was supposed to be done ten minutes ago, Alexa!"

Ben sent Alex a pointed look.

"Alright, alright! I'll finish up! Oh! And Eagle?"

"Yes?"

"Would you like chocolate cake for dessert?"

-XD-

Alex tried to test everyone at dinner that night. "¿De usted habla cualquiera español?" **(2)**

As he expected, Wolf answered.

"Sí, mi ambos de mis padres fueron españoles. ¿Cómo lo sabe usted?"

"Mi tío deseó que aprendiera tantos idiomas como posible."

"Duela a hombre."

"Si."

So now Alex knew that Wolf could speak Spanish. He guessed that Snake could speak either French or German, Ben too.

"Schmecken [euch] die Spaghetti?" **[3]**

It was Wolf's turn to look confused, as Snake easily answered.

"Ja vielen Dank."

Alex switched to French. "Combien de langues savez-vous, Ben?"**(4)**

Wow, he must have had good guessing skills, because as expected, Ben answered.

"Trois, comptant l'anglais. Je sais aussi l'hindou."

"Ik weet Nederlands!" Eagle cried out in Dutch, not wanting to be left out.

"Goed voor jou, Adelaar." **[5]**

_Знам, че български_, Rat said in a rusty tone.

_Легендарен, _Alex said in a bored voice, ignoring all the surprised stares he was getting from around the table. He got up and started heading towards his room. **(6)**

"אני אתם רוצים עוגה, זה במטבח." he said over his shoulder. Alex knew that none of the men knew Hebrew. He would just let them sit there and try to figure out what he said. **(7)**

**(1) A rough translation of the dialect in the Jack/Ian/Alex dinner scene would be something like:**

"**Your cake, sir."**

"**Why French?"**

"**Because I said so." "Now, dig in!"**

"**This tastes fantastic. Thanks!"**

"**My pleasure, Alex."**

**Then finally, "What?"**

**I hope this is correct!**

**(2) "Do any of you speak Spanish?"**

"**Yes, both of my parents were Spanish. How do you know it?"**

"**My uncle wanted me to learn as many languages as possible."**

"**Smart man."**

"**Yes."**

**(3) "Does the spaghetti taste good?"**

"**Yes, thank you."**

**(4)"How many languages do you know, Ben?"**

"**Three, counting English. I also know Hindu."**

**(5) "I know Dutch!"**

"**Good for you, Eagle."**

**(6) "I know Bulgarian."**

"**Legendary."**

**(7) "If you want cake, it's in the kitchen."**

**NO, I don't know all these languages. It's called an online translator.**

**EDITED: August 3, 2011**

**Please Review! A minute of your time for hours of mine!**

**Tigertopaz- Titanium Banana**


	8. Bread and Circuses

**This fic is dedicated to Insanely Me, whose work I just absolutely adore!**

**Disclaimer: See Chapters 1-4**

**Now introducing…*drumroll***

**Three Months to Forever Chapter 8: Bread and Circuses**

_Day 3_

_Countdown: 81 days_

"Alexa! Where was the chocolate cake last night?" Eagle whined.

"It was in the kitchen, silly!" Alexa trilled. "Don't tell me you didn't look there!"

"Um…no?"

"You silly bird!"

Rat, who was standing nearly, snorted very loudly. "Actually, all of us found it except for you, Eagle."

"_WHAT?"_

"You were the only one that was too lazy to actually get up and put your plate in the kitchen yourself, and so we found the cake."

"Why didn't anyone tell me?" Eagle complained. Alex mentally sighed. Was all this man thought about food and…other things? _Probably, _Alex thought, answering his own question.

"Well…" Rat said mischievously, "If we had told you, we would have gotten less. It was a win-win situation. We got more cake, and you didn't have to be tortured by knowing. Ignorance is bliss, right?"

"Alexa," Eagle drawled, "Can you make me some scrambled eggs?"

Alex scrambled for an excuse not to have to cook. "Umm…Wait, I can't!" he exclaimed, trying to look distressed. "I have some new lip gloss! You can join me if you want to!"

There. That would keep them away for a while!

-XD-

When he got to his room, Ben was lying on the bed, and had obviously just gotten up.

"Wha-" he yawned. "What's up?"

"Eagle was harassing me about the chocolate cake." Alex said, then flopped down on the bed, carefully avoiding Ben's sprawled-out body.

"Oooooooohhh…" Ben said with an air of understanding. "I can see how he would be upset."

"No shit, Sherlock!" Alex cried. God, did Ben always like to state the obvious?

"Rawr!" Ben snorted. "What's got you so worked up today?"

Alex just raised an eyebrow. Did he really need to answer that?

"Eagle," Ben murmured, answering his own question.

"Argh!" Alex whined. "I don't want to leave this room for the rest of the day."

-XD-

_Day 4_

_Countdown: 80 days_

True to his words, Alex had stayed in the bed the rest of the day. He had found that, surprisingly, his nightmares had gone away since sleeping with Ben. Weird.

His suspicions about Rat weren't subsiding either. The man was still extremely shady. Alex didn't know what to think of him.

"So what do you guys think we should do?"

Alex caught the conversation coming down the stairs. "What are you talking about?"

"Whether we should do paintball or laser tag."

"Hmmm…Paintball, but if at all possible, laser tag is nice too." Out of the corner of his eye, Alex could see Wolf and Rat raise skeptical eyebrows, no doubt figuring that Alexa was going to get crushed at both.

"Mmm…Eagle?"

"LASER TAG!"

"Ooookay…Wolf?"

"Paintball," said man grumbled.

"Rat?"

"Laser tag."

Snake, anticipating the question, quickly answered. "Lasertag."

"I was going to vote paintball," Ben admitted. "But that would leave us with a tie."

"Why don't we do both?" Alex spoke up. Wasn't that obvious?

"Okay!" Eagle yelled, excited.

And so the plans were made.

-XD-

_Day 5_

_Countdown: 79 days_

"C'mon guys! Get in the car!" Eagle whined. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

The unit, plus two spies, had decided to do laser tag today, then paintball tomorrow. Alex was ecstatic that he would finally get to show K-Unit up after having to be put through this torture.

Since Ben's Rapide only seated four people [five if Alex squeezed in the back], they decided to take Wolf's Range Rover Sport. While not as flashy, at least it let everyone have a little elbow room. Wolf had actually pulled a few strings and had a company add a third-row seat, only it was facing the back of the car. **[I did my research on this one. Totally true.]**

Alex voted to ride in the back seats. The less time he could spend looking at K-Unit, the better. When they asked him why a "girl like him" would be that daring, he just replied that he needed to fix his nail polish in peace.

-XD-

_Same Day, Later On_

Five minutes later, they pulled up to the place. Twisting around in his backward seat, he could make out the words _Astro's Amazing Laser Tag- It's a Blast!_

"Whoo hoo!" Eagle whooped as he leaped out of the car.

"This place looks childish," Sake commented. And indeed it did. The sign was slightly torn, the place seemingly no bigger than an apartment. There was nothing to distinguish it from any other place.

Sighing, they went in anyway.

When they got inside, however, their breath was taken away. The place was _awesome! _The floor was completely clear, as if made of glass. The only light came from a lone disco ball in the middle of a neon dance floor. It was bigger from the inside, it seemed.

They all turned to Ben, who had suggested the place. Ben just shrugged. "Well, this place is kind of…special. They do have laser tag, but the place can kind of 'fold out' into a totally sweet nightclub."

"Sweet," murmured Eagle, and Alex only had to agree.

Ben stepped up to the service counter. "Six people for laser tag, please."

The man raised an eye. "Normal or…you know?"

"Normal."

"Yes sir."

As the man led them to a back room, Ben was once again met with questioning stares.

"What?"

"What did the man mean by 'you know'?" Wolf demanded.

"Well…this place has a code system. 'Laser tag' just so happens to mean strip club."

"…Oh."

They were ushered into a dark room. "Hello, boys…and girls," an enthusiastic lady said, noticing Alex.

"Have any of you ever played laser tag before?"

Eagle had, and raised a hand.

Alex had too, but he wasn't about to tell K-Unit that. Plus, that would destroy his cover as an air-head. Ben had already scolded him about using so many languages that one night.

Ian had taken him when he was ten with no explanation. Alex knew now that it was probably stealth training. It had been fun- but not when he found that Ian had beaten him.

"Okay, so I'll just go over the rules with you. My name is Denise, and you can ask questions any time you like.

She held up one of the suits, which was lightly pulsing a dark blue. **[You know, the one you put on that people try to shoot at?]**

"You put this on, and that's where people will try to shoot at. Since there's six of you, three of you will be on the red team, and three of you will be on the blue team."

She then motioned to the side of the suit. "There are two buttons on the side of your suit. One will create a five-second shield for you, and the other a ten-second shield. Use them wisely, because they only work once."

"Another goal is to find the enemy's base. There will be a light. Every time you hit it, 500 points are subtracted from that team's score. Likewise, if you find your own, you can shoot it to gain 500 points per shot. Still, you can shoot each base only three times. You get 100 points for regular shots."

She led them to another room which was full with laser guns and suits, pulsing either red or blue. "Choose your teams now, men."

**[Okay, I'm going to make a challenge to you. Each man is going to have a codename, and it's your job to keep track of them all as they play the game. If you don't keep track, you probably won't get it. Go!]**

"I like red! It's pretty!" Alex squealed. He quickly chose a suit, and picked out a gun. As soon as he did so, the mini-screen on the gun flashed and read _Ninja._

Ninja was happy with that title, so he went over to Denise to wait for the other men.

Ben wanted to be on Ninja's team, so he selected a red suit and gun, which flashed _Beast._

Wolf chose the blue team, and his gun said _Minotaur._

Eagle chose Ninja's team, and got the name _Excalibur._

Rat chose to be with Minotaur, and his gun said _Alien._

Snake chose the last remaining team, and his name was _Ghost._

They all got together in their teams and tried to think of a good team name.

"How about Deathstrike?" a person that wasn't on Snake's team suggested.

"Perfect."

On the other team's side, a Greek beast was saying, "How about…Team Assault?"

They all agreed, then met up to tell their names.

Finally, they were let into the room, and were given ten seconds to hide. Ninja immediately started looking for the opposing team's base. Minotaur just wanted to destroy Ninja. Beast followed Ninja, while Excalibur went to kill an Alien. Ghost just waited for someone to come by.

"GO!" an automated voice yelled. They set into action. Team Deathstrike's strategy was to find the bases.

Team Assault was just trying to shoot everything and gain the most points.

While on his way to the opposing team's base, an out-of-this-world creature stopped an unsuspecting medieval sword.

"What do you think you're doing?" Quickly, the attacker shot the man in the chest and shoulder.

200 points to Alien.

In the meantime, a certain Beast waited in the shadows, trying to find an unsuspecting Ghost.

"I'll get you now!" he yelped as he sprang out of the shadows. He managed to shoot him once before having to retreat.

100 points to Beast.

A bloodthirsty Minotaur was storming the area, looking for a Ninja to shoot.

Said Ninja had found his team's base, and was busy shooting it.

500 points to Ninja.

500 points to Ninja.

500 points to Ninja.

The Minotaur was mad. He quickly assaulted Ninja, who jumped backwards to dodge. Sadly, since the Ninja was wearing cursed high heels, he slipped and fell, and the Minotaur shot him once…twice…three times.

100 points to Minotaur.

100 points to Minotaur.

100 points to Minotaur.

Still, Ninja didn't give up. He began shooting everyone with a viciousness that was almost otherworldly. Still, the other team never relented.

Ninja used a sneak attack. 100 points.

Ghost received 100 points when he shot someone from across the room.

It went on like that for a while.

500 points to Ninja.

100 points to Beast.

500 points to Alien.

100 points to Excalibur.

100 points to Ninja.

100 points to Ninja.

1100 points to Minotaur.

Finally, the game ended. The men slumped, exhausted. Finally, Alien worked up the breath to ask, "So who won?"

"Well…"

And Denise proceeded to tell them the results.

"Yesss!" one of the winning players hissed, then slapped his teammates high-five, while the others huffed and cursed.

All in all, it had been a pretty good day.

-XD-

**EDITED: June 24, 2011**

**And to anyone that figured out the laser tag puzzle, cyber brownies for you!**

**Please review! A minute of your time for hours of mine!**

**Tigertopaz- Titanium Banana**


	9. Foxy Intermission

**This fic is dedicated to Insanely Me, whose work I just absolutely adore!**

**Disclaimer: See Chapters 1-4**

**Now introducing…*drumroll***

**Three Months to Forever Mini-Chapter 8 ½: Foxy Intermission**

_Ben POV_

I felt terrible when Blunt called me in and told me that Cub's guardian was missing. But my mood definitely brightened when he told me that I was to be his new guardian.

Even then, when I got to the hospital, I was nervous. What if Alex didn't trust me enough to be his guardian? I quickly shook all the uneasy thoughts out of my head, and stepped in the room.

My breath was taken away. Even brutally injured, Alex was still beautiful. I was amazed.

For the second time that day, I had to mentally shake my head. What was I thinking? That was totally wrong. I vaguely felt like a pedophile, but was proven wrong when Alex looked into my eyes. He was mentally too old to be classified as a child.

After a short conversation, I left, leaving Alex to his thoughts. When I got back into my house, I whooped and fit-pumped the air very childishly, you might say. I was so happy to be taking care of Alex!

-XD-

I was now currently driving Alex to his home in my red Aston Martin Rapide. He seemed to like it, and I took it as a good sign.

Alex went into the house, and I spent a few minutes listening to _Take That, _a British group I had recently become obsessed with.

After about fifteen minutes of waiting for Alex, I decided to see if he was alright. Peeking in the doorway, I saw a nice household- but no Alex.

I heard faint sniffling and realized it was coming from upstairs. Not for the first time, I thanked my spy skills for being so good.

I stopped in doorway that I knew must lead to Alex's room. Alex was in there, looking at a photograph as if it held the answer to life's greatest secrets.

"Alex?"

He jumped, obviously not having heard me approach. "Wh-What?"

I looked him over. "Are you alright?"

He laughed, and I pretended to give in. "Meet you back out in the car."

I could tell that laugh was fake, but I let it slide. He would tell me sooner or later, right?

-XD-

I showed him around the house, and the day was really boring. The only thing was, Alex seemed unusually depressed. What was wrong with him? I spent the rest of the day pondering this.

But at night, I lay awake, thinking of how perfect Alex was, and how wrong my thoughts were. What would Alex think?

Sooner or later, I fell asleep.

In the morning, I got up early again, so I decided to wake Alex up again.

"Rise and shine, Cub!" With those words, I dumped a bucket of _very_ cold water on him.

"Fuck! What the hell?"

"Gotcha Cub," I said.

"Ben! What the hell? Do you normally wake your guests up like this?"

I smirked. "Don't be ridiculous, Alex! It's twelve o'clock! Plus, you're going to be here for a while, so the least you could do is _pretend_ this is home, okay?" "Alright," he mumbled.

Then, I skipped out of the room, Alex no doubt questioning my sanity.

-XD-

Later, I called K-Unit [meaning Wolf] up. "How's it going?"

"Fox? What the hell! You haven't called in forever!"

"Well…"

"Who are you talking to?" I could hear Eagle's voice in the distance, but didn't even _want _to know why he was at Wolf's house.

"Hi, Eagle," I drawled. "I was just about to ask Wolf here if you wanted to stay at my house before heading back to MI6."

"Oh! Oh! Please, Wolf, please?"

"Argh! _Shut up!_ But okay, fine."

"Yay!"

Ignoring the side comments from the crazy bird, I asked Wolf, "So is everyone coming?"

"Yeah," he answered. "Is it okay if Rat comes? He's our new member."

Pressing down a bit of jealously, I said, "That's fine. There's someone I want you all to meet, anyway."

I hung up after a quick goodbye, and smiled. This was going to be one hell of a stay!

-XD-

I have to admit, my plan was genius. Smithers had given me a double sided coin for a mission- and I had "forgotten" to give it back. Oh, well. It was going to come in handy.

And it did. I could not thank Smithers more when I saw Alex dressed up in some black stilettos, a short sparkly pink miniskirt, and a black top with lots of glitter designs on it. "Her" hair was done up in some kind of twisted braid of sorts.

When I saw him/her, my breath was literally taken away. He looked gorgeous, even dressed up as a girl.

So, doing the manly thing, I grabbed him and plopped him on my lap, and before he could protest, kissed him.

."What the HELL?" he shrieked, scrambling off of my lap and onto the nearest armchair.

"We're supposed to be a couple, _dear,"_ I reminded Alex, with a little tinge of hurt that he had reacted that badly to my kiss.

"Oh." Alex got back onto my lap, and I tried to make the best time of it as I could.

_Yes, I finally kissed him! Granted, he think's it's for show, but I still kissed him! Yesss! _

I was sure I was beaming.

"Ben!"

The voice startled me out of my daze. "What?"

"You were staring."

"Oh."

I could feel a trace of lipstick on my lips, but just left it there, half of me wanting to remember the moment forever, half of me still in shock.

The guys walked in. "Men, this is Alexa. Alexa, this is Wolf, Eagle," I pointed to each one in turn, "Snake, and Rat." my nose slightly wrinkled as I said the name. I could tell that Wolf's did too.

"Nice to meet you!" my "girlfriend" said perkily. She was doing a wonderful job of acting, because I could see Wolf, Snake, Eagle, and Rat all rolling their eyes at her..

_She's an airhead. _Snake.

_She's an idiot. _Predictably, Wolf.

_She's an arsehole. _Typical Eagle.

Alexa turned back to them. "Well, it's nice to meet you all. Ben, I'll just be…_upstairs,_" She winked at me. Before she could go, I drew her in for a long kiss. I could guess what K-Unit's faces were like, but I turned around anyway.

K-Unit's faces [excluding Rat, of course] were, to say lightly, shocked. Eagle, being the most expressive of them all, had his mouth wide open. Snake had his eyes wide open, and a somewhat disapproving expression on his face. Wolf looked like he was about to spontaneously combust right then and there. For some strange reason, Rat had a somewhat…pleased expression. It unsettled me, but I put it in the back of my mind for later.

Alexa broke the kiss- _NO!- _and headed out of the room, although I knew he wouldn't go upstairs; the following conversation would be too interesting.

As soon as K-Unit thought she was gone, they assaulted me with questions and yells.

"_What the bloody hell, Ben?"_

"_You fucking pedophile-"_

"_I can't believe-"_

"_Have you gotten in her skirt yet?"_

The last comment came from Eagle, but while I was dutifully imagining that scene in my head, Wolf and Snake rounded on Eagle, who started backing away.

"_You aren't exactly helping things right now!" _Wolf bellowed, while Rat just continued to take in the scene.

Snake turned back to me. "Since my colleague is obviously going to start having an heart attack if he tries to talk, I will ask them for him." he took a breath.

"_What in the lowest depths of hell was that? _Are you trying to play _007_? How many girls have you had over here since you left the SAS?"

I was extremely uncomfortable right now. I've seen an angry Snake in person, and he could make eight-year-olds run for their mummies.

"Hey! Alexa is really nice and brave," I defended myself, but I could hear Wolf snort in the background. "She's actually a nice person. And for your information, she was the first girlfriend I've had in a long damn time."

"Huh, nice. More like a complete imbecile," Rat spoke up for the first time. "Does she even know who you really work for?"

Wolf uttered something and nodded. Damn, he could really get on my nerves sometimes.

I, however, skillfully avoided the question. "I really don't think that matters in this point in time. I mean. we'd only gone out a few times before now. I'm not looking that far into the future." _Yes I am! _I wanted to shout in their faces right now.

"That really doesn't matter. We know that you're allowed to have girlfriends and we respect that. What we don't respect is that your so-called girlfriend is probably no older than _**eighteen fucking years old!**_"

I was quietly impressed. Did Alexa really look that old?

Alexa chose that moment to make her grand entrance.

"Why are you guys yelling at Ben? He didn't do anything wrong,"

I would have to thank her later for saving my arse.

The men exchanged glances. "Ummm…"

Eagle piped up, "We were wondering if the relationship is voluntary."

They all gave him dirty looks.

"_Whaaat?" _he whined.

Wolf rolled his eyes. "Heaven forbid. And is it?"

I could tell he wasn't prepared for the sudden question. "Wh-What?"

Snake quickly cut in. "We-_cough cough- _well, what Eagle said."

It took Alexa a while. "What Eagle sai- Oh! Oh, hot damn, it's sure as hell voluntary." She purred. Just to "prove" her point, she pulled me in for a long, steamy kiss. My eyes bulged a little, but I sure didn't complain. He pulled away while I was still thinking, _Damn, that was hot! And it was voluntary! Score for Ben!_

"Now, if you'll excuse us, we have some _things _to talk about." She stared at me pointedly.

Eagle elbowed Wolf. "Are you sure that's _all _they're going to do?" he asked suggestively.

"Shut up! Now you've given me a very- bad- mental image!" Wolf whined. Alexa smirked very pointedly, then dragged me upstairs.

-XD-

The rest of the day passed well. The night, however was a different story. K-Unit was so annoying drunk! I can't believe I had forgotten…well, I had been drunk with them the other times, so that was probably why I'd forgotten.

But then, the next morning, I heard Wolf's angry cry of "WHAT THE HELL? Ben! You are going to DIE!"

Oh, well I'd be angry if someone put me in that position, but Wolf really was overreacting. Well, the good thing was that I'd gotten to sleep in the same bed as Alex.

I turned back to sleep, but then Alex woke up. _"Wake up, you big oaf! Now!"_

Moments later, Wolf came in the room.

"What. The. Hell. Was. This?" he screamed us.

"Um…" I could see Alex scrambling for an excuse. "It was Ben's idea?"

Wolf looked like he was about to explode. He had probably already blown a few fuses.

"Ben?" he asked, turning to me.

"I've got pictures!" I said cheekily.

The rest was history.

-XD-

I was in the kitchen when Alex came bursting in. _"Oh guys!"_

Oh shit. This was _not _going to be good.

He laid the pictures down on the table, and I could feel a bright red flush spreading throughout my whole face while the rest of the men in the room tried to see who it was. Finally, someone guessed it.

"Looks like Ben," Rat muttered.

"Hey!" Snake exclaimed. "It is!" Oh god. This was the end of the world.

"Bloody hell! If I had seen this sooner, I would have let you in on some of the action!" Eagle teased, obviously referring to the drunken pole dance the previous night.

They stared at it some more, while I tried unsuccessfully to snatch the picture away.

"Well, at least we know what Ben does in his spare time," Eagle joked.

"We can use it as blackmail!" Alex cried joyously.

I growled, then tried to grab it from Alex's grip, again unsuccessfully, entailing another chase around the house.

-XD-

Dinner that night was interesting. Alex was really showing off his knowledge of different languages.

After he disappeared for the night, I cleaned up my spot and went into the kitchen. There was the chocolate cake!

Now sneaking quietly, I got another plate from the cabinet by the sink, and started cutting myself delicious looking slice.

Wolf, Snake, and Rat came in later, and started to shout to Eagle, but then I put a finger over my lips over my piece of cake. Why tell him?

-XD-

I could hear Eagle harassing Alex over the cake the next day, and moved to shut him up, but then I heard he was taking cake of himself. Plus, Rat came to the rescue.

The funny thing was, when we had first started sleeping in the same bed, I could tell Alex had nightmare. I wanted to comfort him, but knew he would be too stubborn to accept help. But now, later on in the week, his nightmares had seemed to go away. I took it as a good sign.

-XD-

I have to admit, Alex was very good at laser tag. Now, I just had to see if he was equally good at paintball. I hoped that I would earn his trust eventually, and maybe more. But only time would tell.

-XD-

**EDITED: June 24, 2011**

**Please Review! A minute of your time for hours of mine!**

**Tigertopaz- Titanium Banana**


	10. Revelations

**This fic is dedicated to Insanely Me, whose work I just absolutely adore!**

**Disclaimer: See Chapters 1-4**

**Now introducing…*drumroll***

**Three Months to Forever Chapter 9: Revelations**

_Day 6_

_Countdown: 78 days_

"Alrighty guys, hop in the vehicle! We're going paintballing!"

That, of course, was the over-enthusiastic Eagle. All of the men, [Yes, even Rat!] were excited to show off their "superior" skills at paintballing. Alex was secretly excited, but pretended to be bored.

The men, once again, got in Wolf's Range Rover Sport, and Ben was driving.

This time, it took fifteen minutes to get to the place.

"Ben, when are we going to get-" Snake's voice was cut off when they pulled up to the place.

"Now this is cool," Wolf said n amazement as they all stared at the place. A sign that was flashing neon green and pink displayed the name of the place: _Xtreme Paintballing._

"Cool?" Eagle said in disbelief. "This is bloody awesome!"

They all got out of the car and walked up to the door. Just before they got in, Eagle just _had _to say, "I'm going to beat you all's arses!"

"Shut _up_, Eagle!" Wolf and Rat moaned at the same time, only to look at each other curiously.

"C'mon guys, we're wasting daylight!" Ben said cheerfully.

They walked in and went up to the desk. "Six for paintball, please."

"Okay. Do you want to play in teams or individual?" The man at the desk asked.

Glancing around, Ben decided, "Teams of two, please."

"Yes sir. Right this way."

The man led them to a separate rooms where they could see all their equipment. "Alright men, time to choose your teams."

"I have Alexa," Ben piped up immediately. The other men didn't seem to care. Alex took it to believe it was because they didn't want a girly-girl on their team. He didn't really care. Ben leaned down and pecked him on the cheek. "Which color are we going to choose, love?"

Alex's heart temporarily leapt at the endearment, when he remembered- it was for show. And he only had seventy-eight days left. He supposed he was a bit paranoid about the "three-months" thing.

"Pink, honey." Ben's eyebrow raised- but he didn't say anything. Alex chose that particular color because hey- it would be more embarrassing if someone got hit. He could just imagine Wolf running around with a pink arse.

Wolf and Rat chose each other, and Snake sighed as he was force-paired with Eagle, who looked all too happy.

They took one lap around the playing field, which was surprisingly in a large indoor enclosure. Alexa was surprised at the amount of detail that was put into making the place look as realistic as possible. He also took that time to subtly access the space. Subtly because he was also busy pretending to be infatuated with the squirrels that insisted on running about everywhere. He could have sworn that even the guard sighed.

They got back inside and while the guy was getting the paintballs, the men busied them selves by getting their masks, guns, hoppers, and air tanks on.

The guy, whose nametag read "Eric," gave them their paintballs, which they put in their hoppers.

Wolf and Rat had yellow balls.

Snake and Eagle had blue balls.

Ben and Alexa had, as planned, pink balls.

"Okay men!" Eric instructed. "We're going to play 'center flag' paintball. Now what that is is there is a single flag in the middle of the field. There are two variations of how to win. For now, we're going to do the 'pull it' version. What that means is when your team gets the flag, you try to get it back to your own starting base. Any questions?"

The men nodded in the negative.

"Okay, you can get in your groups and try to come up with a strategy while the group out there now is finishing up."

Alex watched as Wolf and Rat got together. "Now, what we're going to do is…"

Unfortunately, Wolf caught "her" looking in their direction, scowled, and proceeded to move to a different corner of the room.

Snake and Eagle seemed to have a completely different mindset. "Well, there is one thing we need to focus on…" This time, Alex was interrupted from eavesdropping by Ben tapping his shoulder.

"What?" he asked distractedly, turning around to face the other man.

"What's the strategy?" Ben asked while dragging him to another corner so they could talk without foreign ears listening.

"Shouldn't you know that, Mr. 007?" the teen teased, then got serious. "Hmmm…I don't know. Do you want to shoot people or sneak up to grab the flag?"

"Since you're smaller, you can grab the flag. I'll cover you."

Alex smiled up at Ben. "If you put it that way, it sounds like we're in a bad version of _Modern Warfare: Black Ops._"

Ben chuckled. "Yes, I suppose you're right." He leaned down and kissed the teen.

"Hey!" Eagle cried, noticing what was going on. "No mushy stuff in the area!"

Ben pulled away rather reluctantly, and was pleased to notice that Alex looked more than a bit dazed.

"If I recall, Eagle," he said conversationally, "_Someone _walked in on a _very _compromising situation in your bedroom once."

Eagle stared at the man in horror, a bright red color forming on his face. He glared at Wolf. "You said you wouldn't tell!"

Wolf shrugged, but before he could verbally answer the angry [not to mention embarrassed] Eagle, Eric returned to the room.

"Ready men- and women?" he added glancing at Alexa.

They nodded, and Eric led them out to the field, team by team. Wolf and Rat left with him first, and were supposedly led to their base. Eagle and Snake followed.

While out, Ben took the time to look at Alex more carefully. The teenager had on some sparkly blue shorts on, and a forest-green top on that hung off 'her' shoulders a bit, revealing a built-in undershirt.

"You look beautiful," he murmured, and leaned down again to kiss the younger male on the lips, this time running his tongue along Alex's bottom lip. Alex wanted to point out that they didn't have to pretend to be a couple when no-one else was there, but the protest died in his mouth as he moaned, letting Ben push his tongue inside his all-too-willing mouth. The intruding tongue started exploring all the curves and crevices of the smaller male's mouth.

The sound of someone clearing their throat broke the moment, and Alex- plus Ben- wanted to curse the man into the lowest depths of hell for ruining the moment.

"L-Let's go," Eric said, looking more than uncomfortable.

He led them onto the field, and if Alex felt someone's eyes on him, he didn't say anything. It was probably only one of the other men, anyway.

Eric led them past a pond too small to be considered a lake, and then past a small clearing. Alex could see a faint glimpse to the large 4x3 flag. Ironically, it was white- the color of surrender.

Finally, they stopped in a small forest. They saw a small pink marking with a hole in the middle, presumably to hold the flag.

"Alright, here you go," Eric said. "The game starts when the electronic voice says 'go.'"

They thanked him and he left quickly, not wanting to get caught between any more of their kisses.

They were given five more minutes to go over their plan, then a voice sounded.

"The game will begin in three…two…one…GO!"

Alex burst into a fast print, trying to get to the field that he had seen the flag in, Ben trailing close behind. Was that Rat he saw in the distance? He had not pegged the man to be a fast runner; unless it was a ploy?

Eagle could also be seen coming over a small hill. This time, Alex wasn't surprised that Eagle had been chosen to do the running; the man had more energy than the Energizer Bunny itself.

Ben stayed right behind him the whole time, waiting to shoot.

Finally some of the other men showed up. Alexa was about 20 feet from the flag, but Eagle and Rat both had longer legs than him. They were all neck and neck with each other. Eagle was finally close enough to grab the flag- his arm was outstretched- when Ben's paintball hit him- on said arm.

"OW!" the man yowled to the fake sky.

None of the other men paid any attention to him, as they were all simultaneously trying to get to the flag while also trying to shoot each other.

Rat tried to shoot Ben, but barely missed. Alex instead hit him in the stomach. He doubled over in pain.

Alex thought that he would be one of the only ones left that were close to the flag, but he was behind where Rat had been, Wolf sprang out of a bush. Huh. So Rat had been a decoy.

He changed course quickly, and could hear Ben's cry of confusion at the sudden change of plan.

He quickly began running behind Wolf, and just as said man had grabbed the flag, Alex promptly shot him in the arse- like he said he would. "AARGH!"

Alex wanted to collapse right then and there laughing his own arse off, but unfortunately he had to get to the flag before Snake could.

The other bad thing was that Eagle and Rat were already recovering and trying to shoot at him. "Ah!"

He tried to dodge them and was fairly successful. He jumped over one from Wolf that was aimed at his feet, presumably to trip him. He grabbed the flag and started running. Fast. Ben was right there along side him. "Run! Hurry! I'll hold them off!"

Somehow, the sixth sense that someone was going to attack came into play right now.

Alex, for some reason or another, felt that Wolf was coming. It also helped that Wolf was not the stealthiest man alive.

Ben had sensed Wolf coming, also. "Alex! Look out!"

But before said teen could veer out of the way, though, Wolf appeared in front of him, pointing the gun straight at his chest…

He could hear the bang of the gun…

_A slight pressure in his chest, as if someone had punched him…_

The impact of the ball of yellow goo right over his heart…

_The street suddenly tilting on its side…_

Losing all consciousness…

-XD-

"Alex!"

Faintly, Alex heard Ben's voice, but it was as if he were at one end of a long tunnel, and Ben was at the other end, shouting at him.

"Wha-What?"

He struggled to sit up.

"Are you alright?" Ben's worried face appeared at the front of his vision.

"Yeah…Where are we?"

"…Back in my house, in your bedroom." Once Alex took a look around, he saw that it was, indeed, his room.

"What happened?"

"You blacked out after Wolf shot you," he explained. Suddenly, the ex-SAS man narrowed his eyes. "What was that? That can't be a normal reaction." Alex could practically see the gears in Ben's head turning. He could also see when Ben had figured it out. "You've been shot, haven't you?"

Alex glanced away uncomfortably, which told Ben everything. _"Damn those MI6 bastards!" _the man cursed. He rounded on Alex. "Why didn't you tell me before?" He practically yelled at the teen, who started backing away. Luckily, someone had replaced the somewhat uncomfortable skirt and top with a pair of comfortable green pajamas, even if he didn't like the thought of someone seeing him basically naked and defenseless.

Ben had not missed the action, and his expression immediately softened, but his eyes did not lose the hardened look. "Where is it?"

Alex knew what he was talking about, and reluctantly began taking off the pajama shirt.

The older man grew angry again when he saw the old bullet wound, but it was a more controlled anger this time. He started muttering to himself. Alex could faintly hear some random phases.

"Dammit…never let them again…totally unacceptable…_bastards!_"

Alex didn't really see what was the problem. "Ben…Why are you making such a fuss? I survived- that's what matters, right?" _Not that I have long to live anyway…_

Ben sighed. "I know, but it's the mere thought that someone would try to kill you that pisses me off."

If this was how he behaved when he learned he'd been shot, Alex wondered what Ben's reaction would be like when he learned that it was Scorpia that tried to assassinate him.

"Ben, it's in the past now. Can we just forget about it?" Alex almost shamelessly begged.

Said man just rolled his eyes. "Fine, we'll not talk about it anymore- for now. We _will, _however, discuss this later."

Alex wanted to protest, but he heard the unwavering tone and knew that Ben would allow him no lenience.

"Besides," Ben smiled, the first time since Alex had woken up. "I want to see K-Unit's faces when they see who my 'girlfriend' really is."

Alex grinned, but it quickly faded as he realized, for the first time, what that truly meant.

"Shit!"

"Yes, love?" Ben asked innocently- too innocently.

"You planned all of this!" Alex accused. He couldn't believe he'd been this naïve. "You- you bastard! K-Unit will never let me forget this!" he moaned, head in his hands. A new idea formed, though.

"Wait…this was for _your _benefit too, wasn't it? You just wanted to see me like- like- like _that!" _He was quickly getting angry, which increased when Ben just looked away guiltily.

"I can't believe this! You cheated me into acting like a girl in front of _Wolf!"_ Alex felt betrayed, taken advantage of.

"I can't trust you. Big whoop. You've just another trait-"

Alex's little rant was cut off by a pair of lips pressing against his own. He moaned against his will, but Ben seemed to be satisfied. He drew back. "What the hell?"

"Alex…this started out as a joke, you know. But…as the week progressed, I felt different." He chuckled. "Damn. I really have problems in the 'emotional' department. Guess it's a job hazard for working with MI6." he chuckled. "But anyway, what I really mean to say is…I like you Alex. Not in just the friendly way. Like, _like _you. And if I spend more time with you, those feelings could progress. So, what would you say? Would you give me a chance?"

Alex was dumbfounded. He hadn't ever had anyone say anything like that to him, no matter how many girls Tom said were lusting after him. They wouldn't know what his life was like. They would say being a spy was "awesome," when in fact it was really not.

But Ben knew. He knew what it was like to be manipulated, to be at the brink of death, to be sent off to the most gruesome of deaths. He was one of the only people that knew what he was going through. _Except for the cancer_, a small voice in the back of his brain reminded him cruelly. He pushed the voice away, then grabbed Ben's waist.

He kissed him tenderly. Unlike the other kisses, this one was filled with understanding and love and care and all of the things the two were afraid, almost vitally so, of saying aloud. Finally, Alex pulled away. "I'll give you a go," he whispered almost shyly.

Ben immediately pulled him into another kiss completely opposite of the one before. This time, Alex's mouth opened without hesitation, and the tongues dueled viciously.

For the second time that day, someone cleared their throat at the doorway, and they immediately broke apart.

"What the hell do y-" Ben's voice died off at the smirk on Rat's face, and the identical expression on Eagle's face, who was standing next to said man.

Eagle stared at Alex in confusion. "What did you do to your hair, Alexa?" he whimpered.

Obviously, he had hoped to be Alexa's boyfriend if Ben had ever dumped her.

Alex frowned in confusion, and felt the top of his head. Oh. The wig wasn't on. He had wondered why his head didn't itch. "Shit…" It was a miracle that Eagle hadn't already figured out who he was.

Ben smirked at him, then said to the two confused SAS men, "Call Snake and Wolf in here. I have something to tell you guys." The two men dutifully left to tell the other two.

Alex just flipped over onto his stomach and buried his head in the soft pillow. "Argh…"

Ben grinned. "Ah, don't be such a spoil sport, Alex! You knew this was coming."

But before their conversation could progress anymore, the four men that made up K-Unit came into the room.

"You wanted to see us?" Wolf asked gruffly, but his eyes widened when he fell on the [embarrassed] form of one Alex Rider.

"Who is that? Ben!" he stared at the offending man accusingly.

Ben patted the person's back, who very reluctantly sat up.

Wolf squinted, trying to figure out who the hell this person was. Ben could tell when he figured it out, because his eyes lit up and narrowed at the same time. "Cub?" he asked disbelievingly.

Ben smiled angelically. "The one and only."

Alex merely raised a hand in greeting, simultaneously rolling his eyes at Ben.

"But where did Alexa-" Wolf's voice cut off as he realized what had gone on. "Alexa?" he asked disbelievingly.

Alex groaned and tried to slump down on the pillow again, but Ben stopped him. "Yes, he is."

"I don't believe it!" Eagle cried. "I've been trying to hit on you and all this time you've been…a boy! I'm straight!"

Then he seemed to realize what he'd just been saying entailed. He started laughing hysterically, joining Rat. Alex's face was easily comparable to a tomato in color. He then sobered up quickly.

"Wait," he said suspiciously, pointing from Ben to Alex. "Does that mean…" he trailed off. Ben seemed to know what he meant.

"Yes, very much so." He leaned in and crushed his mouth against the blushing teen's, in front of all four other men.

Wolf was standing in shock, partly from being reacquainted with Cub, partly from finding out he'd been dressing like a girl the whole week, and partly from finding out that said boy had been going out with one of his best friends, Fox.

Snake was frozen in much the same position, thinking one thing over and over in his mind. _What the hell?_

Eagle and Rat had started laughing again, to nobody's surprise.

Alex once again had his face buried in the depths of the pillow with Ben smiling down at his prone figure. Said man leaned down and gently pecked the back of the teen's neck.

"Tired?"

"…yeah…" the teen said tiredly.

The older MI6 agent promptly picked the sleepy teen up bridal style, despite said teen's protests.

He turned back to the others. "You can interrogate him tomorrow. He's going to sleep, right now. Adios, amigos!"

The men could only stare dumbly at the doorway where Ben had carried their Cub out.

Finally, Eagle grinned. "Do you think that's _all _that they're going to do?"

Wolf smacked him across the back of his head.

-XD-

**EDITED: June 24, 2011**

**Please Review! A minute of your time for hours of mine!**

**Tigertopaz- Titanium Banana**


	11. Someone's Going Back to Hell

**This fic is dedicated to Insanely Me, whose work I just absolutely adore!**

**Disclaimer: Not mine. D:**

**WARNING: Scorpia Rising spoiler! But the book has been out for a while now, so…**

**Now introducing…*drumroll***

**Three Months to Forever Chapter 10: Someone's Going Back to Hell**

_Day 7- Last Day_

_Countdown: 77 days_

"Hurry up, Rat!" Wolf growled, snappier than usual. It was probably because they were going to Hell that day- or at least the equivalent of it. All the men were rather jumpy due to the fact that they were indeed going back to Brecon Beacons. Anyone else would have been terrified by that fact.

Alex, for one, was happy that he was wearing his own clothes again. He couldn't stand to have to go through _that _again.

-XD-

_Earlier That Morning_

"_So, Cub, pray tell me," Wolf growled. "Why did you decide to dress like that?"_

_Alex mentally sighed, and Ben looked like Christmas had come early. He was really enjoying this, it seemed._

"_It was Ben's fault," Alex accused. _

"_Was not!" the older man was quick to say._

"_Was too."_

"_Was not."_

"_Was too."_

"_Was-"_

"_Kids, kids," Eagle interrupted, grinning. "As much as I want to hear this play out, we have a dead line. The sergeant won't be pleased if we're late. So start answering." He nodded to Snake, who started to talk. _

"_First off, what is your real name? We've never discussed it, although I can guess."_

"_Alex," said teen replied, nonplussed._

"_Ha! I told you, Eagle! Now hand it over," cried Rat._

_Eagle appeared to pout, then pulled out what looked like a ten pound bill and handed it to Rat._

"_You were betting on my __**name**__?" Alex moaned._

"_Um, yeah…Thanks…Alex," Rat smiled._

_Alex rolled his eyes. "Whatever."_

_It was apparently Wolf's turn. "You never answered my first question. How did you end up having to dress up like that?"_

_Alex glanced at his- boyfriend?-, pleading him to take mercy on him, with no avail. Ben really could be a bastard sometimes._

"_Argh…Well, I was staying with this asshole," he glared at Ben lightly at this point, "and he told me that you guys were coming. So, he wanted to prank you guys. I didn't want to dress up like that, but we flipped a coin and I lost. So…yeah…" he ended kind of awkwardly. _

_Snake and Rat were smirking, and Eagle was full out laughing. "It's not bloody funny!" Alex pouted._

_Rat was the first to sober up. "So are you two actually…you know…" he gestured at Ben and Alex._

_They glanced at each other, but Ben was the first to do anything. _

"_Hell yeah," he smirked, leaning in to kiss Alex, who responded all too willingly. K-Unit could only stare in renewed shock. It was one thing for their old teammate to be with a teenage "girl." It was another thing to be with a teenage boy who had once gone to Hell with them and had been their worst enemy there._

_As usual, Wolf was the first to regain his tongue. "Explain," he said, crossing his arms over his chest and staring at Ben. Alex chuckled. Ben threw him a half-hearted glare before beginning._

"_It wasn't like that before…I swear!It was just going to be a prank, but…I guess we, erm, started to have…um…this is really awkward…feelings for each other and things progressed from there," Ben let out in a long rush. He wished he could just get out of there!_

_Alex decided to take pity on the poor agent. "Don't be mad at him or anything. It was technically my fault. I was the one who let it happen."_

_The men didn't look satisfied, but let it drop for the time being._

_Rat decided to add his two-cents. "How did you end up with our resident Fox here?"_

_Alex stiffened. Jack's disappearance was still a sore subject for him._

_Luckily, Ben took up the story then. "Guys, don't bother him about it. He'll tell in his own time."_

_But now Alex decided to step up. "It's fine. I have to get it out of my system, I guess._

"_Well, no one really knows what happened to her…"_

_He told them the story of how he came home one day and she wasn't there, how he called MI6..._

"_So, the next day, they called me back. They said that they would find her- if I agreed to go on another mission for them."_

_He proceeded to tell them about his mission. _

"_They sent me to Cairo, Egypt because the body of Levi Kroll- a Scorpia executive- was found dead. A sniper tried to kill me in school. They didn't succeed, but managed to hit my friend in the arm…"_

_He just kept on talking, and was surprised at himself. Normally he wasn't this…open._

_Alex told them how he was sent with Sabina Pleasure, because she had volunteered herself and because it made things less suspicious. _

_He told them about going to the Cairo school, and about going to the House of Gold, only to almost drown._

_When he got to the part where he got waterboarded by the CIA, Ben almost had to be restrained, he was so mad._

_Alex didn't want to betray Smithers, but he had said that he would tell them everything, so he told them about Smithers' witty disguise. _

_The teen got choked up when he started explaining about how Julius and Razim captured him and killed Sabina in front of his eyes. _

_Approaching the end of his tale, he told them about the conference and how he shot and killed his clone- Julius._

_Alex told them how Razim died, and how it all went down from then._

_And how he learned of Blunt's betrayal, and how he didn't even get fired._

"…_and that's how I ended up in the hospital."_

_By now, of course, Wolf's mouth was wide open, Rat a duplicate of that. Snake looked ready to blow his top, while Eagle appeared to be doing breathing exercises._

_Ben was another story. He was pacing across the room, fists clenched. "I'm going to kill the bastards! Especially Blunt. How could someone do that- to a child, no less?"_

_Alex reached out and touched the short sleeve of Ben's royal blue colored shirt-which showed off the older man's muscles quite nicely, he noted. But he was getting off track._

"_Ben…"_

_Said man rounded on him, but he didn't even flinch. Alex pulled him down so he could whisper in his ear._

_Can't we do this elsewhere? Or after they leave?" he almost pleaded, glancing at the still-shocked K-Unit._

_Ben didn't look happy, but after one glance at Alex's face, he folded. "Okay."_

-XD-

_Present Time_

An hour had passed since then. Ben, it seemed, had decided to wait for K-Unit to leave before talking with the slightly apprehensive teen.

It was 9:30 and every member of K-Unit was hopping off the walls trying to get everything together. The group talk had happened at 8:30 after breakfast. It took two hours to get to the airport that would be taking them to Wales. Their plane left at two, so they had to get there by eleven to get their stuff packed up and their tickets verified.

Basically, they had to leave in thirty minutes and they were all in a state of panic. Eagle was running around like a crazy man in an insane asylum, admittedly not helping anyone.

Finally Alex snapped. "SHANE DYLAN ANDERSON! GET YOUR HEAD **OUT** OF YOUR OVERSIZED ASS AND START HELPING OR I WILL PAINFULLY RIP YOUR BALLS OUT AND SHOVE THEM UP SAID ASS ALONGSIDE YOUR HEAD!"

Everyone stopped what they were doing- even Eagle- and stared at him. Alex was slightly embarrassed. He normally didn't blow up like that- but then again, Eagle was anything but normal.

"How do you know my name?" Eagle asked curiously. "No one's ever heard my middle name."

Alex just raised an eyebrow.

Luckily, Eagle decided to heed his warning and decided to help Snake in packing the bags in Wolf's car [which had used quite a lot of gas already that week!].

"Finally," Alex could hear Ben mutter, "the jackass is working."

Alex threw said man a winning smile, and tried to move away to help Wolf with cleaning their rooms out. Ben caught him, though, and hissed in his ear, "We'll talk about that later too." He let the teen go with a peck to the lips, who then scurried off to busy himself by helping Wolf.

-XD-

"Bye!" Alex yelled as the car turned off their street.

He was standing in the front lawn of Ben's house, said man's arm around his waist. All in all, it probably looked really sappy, but Alex couldn't really bring himself to care.

-XD-

Ben steered Alex back through the front door, and into their "shared" bedroom. Alex had actually been faintly surprised to have found himself in there that morning. K-Unit had known his secret now, so why did they still share a bedroom? But he really couldn't bring himself to care. He had grown used to having another body in the bed with him. Plus, it actually helped with his nightmares. It seemed the two spies had grown used to each other.

Ben, without any warning, started snogging Alex. Roughly. So Alex kissed back just as hard.

Suddenly, he pulled back. Alex pouted slightly at the loss of the warmth against his lips, but understood. They would talk now.

"First of all," Ben asked, "how did you get that bullet wound?"

"From a banana." Alex was feeling more than a bit sarcastic that day.

"Seriously." Ben wasn't.

"I got shot."

Now Ben was upset. "I don't get it, Alex. How can you take this so lightly? You got **shot **in the fucking **heart**!" he emphasized the words. "Now tell me what happened.

"_Seriously_," he added as an afterthought.

So Alex started talking, spilling his heart out for the second time that day.

And he told him.

About his uncle's betrayal and biggest secret, and the meeting with MI6 that had led to his first assignment, the Stormbreaker.

Point Blanc was easier to explain, as it wasn't so personal, but Alex could see a tic in Ben's jaw when he got to the part of his almost-dissection.

Alex was already tired as he started explaining about the Chinese Triads, and getting dragged into the mission known as Skeleton Key.

Ben's eyebrows seemed to disappear when Alex told about seeing Yassen Gregorovitch and choosing to take the mission Eagle Strike.

Said man's lips were in a thin, straight line as he finally learned of why Scorpia hated Alex so much.

Btu Alex could see the amazement in the older man's eyes as he relived the Ark Angel scenario.

He briefly explained the parts of the Snakehead mission that Ben had been absent from, and plowed straight into the disaster with McCain. Ben's eyes widened as he finally learned about how Alex had gotten his burn scars.

The tragic story had taken three hours, and Alex realized he was starving.

"Um…can we eat now?" he asked an angry Fox.

Ben's expression softened, and he looked at Alex. "Sure. What do you want?"

-XD-

After Alex's stomach had been filled, they went back to Ben's room and laid down on the bed side by side on their backs.

Suddenly, Ben turned on his side to face Alex. He started running his hand through the teen's fair strands of hair.

"Thank you for telling me that. It must have been hard."

Alex laughed half-heartedly. "You sound like a bloody counceler."

"What do you know, I might be?" Ben teased. "Well, actually, MI6 made me take some classes on how to deal with people and kids in different…situations."

"Huh," Alex mumbled, tired from all the mental stress of the day. Then he thought of something.

"Wait. Other than in Brecon Beacons, did you have to do RTI classes?" Alex was going to kill Blunt if his boyfriend answered positive.

"…Yes." Ben finally answered.

"ARGH! I am going to MURDER Blunt!" Alex screamed in frustration.

"Alex…"

"What?"

Alex realized he was breathing heavily, and tried to calm himself down.

"Okay, I'm okay."

"Alex…it wasn't that bad. They didn't rough me up that much."

"…that much?"

"That much," Ben insisted.

"Now take your shirt off."

"WHAT?"

"I want to see how badly you_'_re injured."

"…Oh."

Alex honestly didn't know why he reacted that way. Sex hadn't been treated as a nasty thing in the Rider household. It was simply seen as a way for two people to show each other how much they love them.

So why was he acting like this?

Ignoring the mental question, he shrugged his black t-shirt off, trying to ignore the gasp of outrage from Ben.

"What?"

"You have fucking _burn scars _all over your abdomen!"

"Oh, yeah, those…"

"'_Oh, yeah, those_!'" Ben mocked. "Why didn't I see those earlier?" he asked himself out loud.

"Maybe because you weren't looking for them?" Alex suggested quietly. He was getting a little uncomfortable with Ben swarming around him like a bloody mother hen.

"And what," Ben pointed at the still-showing bruises around his shoulders.

"Got them on the same mission as the burns."

"What the hell did they _do _to you?"

Because Alex had "forgotten" to tell Ben the cruder parts of his missions, he was facing the consequences.

"Um…They…"

"Well, spit it out already!"

"They made me hang by my arms over crocodiles and the burns are from when I blew McCain up."

Alex squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the explosion.

It never came.

Instead, he was pressed up against Ben's body as the older man took him into a long, heartfelt hug.

"You shouldn't have had to do those things. You're just a kid, and you deserve more than this."

Alex could feel tears prickling his eyes, and apparently Ben could see them too.

"Just cry. Let it all out."

And he did. He just cried. And somehow, it made everything seem better. Maybe it was because Ben was a spy too, and had seen some of the horrors he had, been through the same life-or-death experiences. Maybe because Ben was so sweet and caring, no matter how sappy it was.

He just held on to Ben like a lifeline, like he would never let go.

-XD-

**EDITED: August 9, 2011**

**I am silently laughing. Shane and Dylan are dudes at my church and Anderson is the last name of my grandma's brother-in-law. Heheheh…**

**Please review! A minute of your time for hours of mine!**

**Tigertopaz- Titanium Banana**


	12. Help In Ways Unexpected

**This fic is dedicated to Insanely Me, whose work I just absolutely adore!**

**Disclaimer: See Chapters 1-4**

**Now introducing…*drumroll***

**Three Months to Forever Chapter 11: Help, In Ways Unexpected**

_Mini Time Skip To:_

_Countdown: 70 Days_

It was admittedly more boring at Ben's house without the presence of K-Unit- but Alex hadn't decided whether he thought that was a good thing or not.

The good thing was, MI6 hadn't called him- yet. They probably would any day now, though.

Alex was happy. He felt more…open after telling Ben everything. Maybe it was because Ben understood, understood better than anyone else ever had.

Nevertheless, the last week had been…fun. There was no nosy Eagle trying to get in their business [as well as their pants], and Alex had relaxed a bit more.

They had gone to the same park that they had went to with K-Unit. Alex had been immensely glad when nobody recognized him as the girly-girl that had been there only a few days ago. That time, though, it was relaxing and comforting, not rowdy and unorganized.

Alex had gotten to know Ben better, and vice-versa, even though Ale had basically spilled his heart out to said man a week ago. Alex was still embarrassed about the whole ordeal, but Ben had assured him time and time again that it was no big deal, which somehow made him feel better. At least his nightmares weren't as bad.

He also got to meet Ben's therapist, too, a middle-aged man that went by the name of Dr. Speck. Ben forced him to sit through one whole therapy session [one hour in all] to see how bad it was.

Ben was right. It was bad. Dr. Speck had a dull, droning voice that made you want to go to sleep.

When it was over, Alex approached Ben. "Why do you put up with that guy?" he demanded.

"It's required," groaned Ben. "I tried to convince Blunt to let me switch therapists to that girl down the hallway…" his voice trailed off as he guiltily looked at Alex, who now had his arms crossed.

"And why," Alex began, "would you want to switch with her? I'm right here, you know," he purred.

Ben could have sworn he started drooling.

-XD-

So, all in all, it had been a good week, but Alex felt himself slipping into his old depression without anyone to keep him busy. Ben was great- they still slept in the same bed- but Alex couldn't help but think about how many days he had left every time he looked into the older man's eyes.

_70 days._ It was hard to believe that he only had seventy days left.

Alex had realized a few days ago that he hadn't actually been told what type of cancer he had. So he had called the doctor- in private, of course.

He really didn't want Ben to find out his lethal yet- although knowing that said man was a spy, it probably wouldn't take him long to figure out once the symptoms started showing.

Alex was actually really worried about how Ben would take the news.

Would he yell? Would he abandon him?

All these thoughts made Alex even more confused.

_Should I kill myself?_

The thought, which came one morning at breakfast, _[Countdown: 69 days] _nearly made him choke on his eggs.

Ben, always the worrier, looked at Alex in concern. "Are you alright?"

Alex nodded. No use getting Ben all upset.

For one second in time, Ben looked like he would let it drop- like all the other times. But then the older spy's face grew hard.

"What is it, Alex? You can't go on like this! Ever since K-Unit left, you've been all depressed! What is it?"

Ale merely stared at him, then silently left the dining room and headed towards his room.

Once he had gotten up to his room [the one that he kept his stuff in, not the one he and Ben had been sleeping in], shut and locked the door, and was safely laying on his bed, he sighed. Things were slowly going downhill, as much as he tried to deny it. Ben was getting worried about him again and he was starting to think suicidal thoughts again, which was definetly a bad sign.

Even though it was still morning [they had only just starting eating breakfast!], Alex felt his eyes start to close. He let them. He would only nap for an hour…

_He started, jerking up out of his bed. And stared. _

What the hell did I do to end up here? _was his first thought._

_He was still in his bed, but not in his room. Instead, he was surrounded by a large fiery circle. It looked, simply, like he was in the lowest depths of Hell._

"_Hello, Alex," a voice purred. For a second time, Alex jumped. "Why do you all insist on scaring me like that?" Alex demanded. He was by no means in the mood for a long conversation. Besides that, he couldn't even see the man. Said man must be hidden in the shadows or something. _

"_You know, I missed you the last time you came to visit, so I decided to give you a little word of greeting."_

_The last time he came to visit? Alex's eyebrows squinched together, thinking of when that might be. _

_But then he remembered that night in the hospital._

_All of his ghosts of the past. _

_Jack meeting him, scorning him, destroying him from the inside._

_He racked his brain, trying to remember which one hadn't been there._

_But then he remembered. Damn, he should have recognized the voice!_

"_Drevin," he snarled. Said man chuckled._

"_Why Alex, I'm surprised it took you this long. Is the poor spy having memory losses?" he mocked. Alex scowled._

"_In case you forgot, I'm the one who defeated you, not the other way around, you bastard!"_

_It was Drevin's turn to scowl now. Clearly, the memory still left a bad aftertaste._

"_Shut up, scum!"_

"_I wouldn't be talking- you have so much air 'space' in your head that I'm surprised you can manage not to float!"_

_Faintly, Alex was surprised that he was having a diss-battle with one of his enemies- but he couldn't bring himself to care…much._

"_Piss off!"_

_Unfortunately for Alex, Drevin chose that moment to make his attack._

_Razor-sharp knives came hurling at Alex. The teen tried to avoid them, but just as one was about to hit his heart…_

_The dream changed…_

_Alex was back on the board he had used to get to Barbados, with the three boats pursuing him._

_This time, though, instead of knocking the men out, he could see the men aim at him with their machine guns. He knew they were pointing at his heart._

_Just as he saw them pull the trigger…_

He woke up, Ben still shaking him, shouting.

"Alex! Shit! Oh, thank God you're awake!"

Ben flopped down on the bed next to Alex. For a moment the teen wondered how he had gotten in the room- the door was locked, after all- but then he saw a Ben-shaped hole in said door.

"What the hell?"

Ben, always the intellectual one, decided to answer that. "You were having a nightmare."

Alex felt like screaming "No shit, Sherlock!" in Ben's face, but decided to have a little mercy on the man. "And…?" he prompted.

Ben's face twisted up. "You were screaming- loudly, so I ran up here, but the door was locked. So I had to basically knock down the door and wake you up."

He said that all in one breath.

Ale could think of only one thing to say. "Oh."

Ben sat up from his position on the bed and put his hands on his hips. If the situation wasn't so serious, Alex would have laughed- but he didn't even bat an eyebrow.

"'Oh' is right. What was that about, Alex?"

"Um…"

"And don't even think of lying."

Damn.

"Ark Angel," he finally admitted.

Ben's face relaxed a bit. This was the plus side of living with Ben and not Jack. Jack would have gone on a tirade about MI6 and fussed over him like a mother hen- but she wouldn't have really understood. Ben would.

It also helped that Alex ha already explained the whole mission to Ben, since he couldn't- and wouldn't- have explained it in detail right now.

"Well, at least it didn't last very long. I was only sitting downstairs maybe…" Ben checked his watch, a fancy Rolex. "…twenty minutes, at the most?"

Well, at least it wasn't a long time. Still…it was the first nightmare he had had for a while.

"Huh." Well, he sure was eloquent today!

"Alex…"

"What?"

"Damn, this is going to sound cheesy. Well, um…you can always talk to me, you know. I'll be your personal therapist."

Alex looked the older man over.

"You're way hotter than any therapist."

-XD- **[Yes, I know the line was cheesy.]**

_Countdown: 65 days_

Funnily enough, Rat had somehow managed to get hold of Ben's house from Brecon Beacons.

Alex had found out one day went the phone rang. **[AN: Duh…] **Ben was in the shower, so he just answered- not looking at the caller ID. "Hello?"

"Alex!"

Said person recognized the voice immediately. He wasn't MI6's top spy for nothing.

"What do you want?" he asked warily. He really didn't want to be having a conversation with this man right now. Faintly, he wondered how the man could have called. When he was at Brecon Beacons, the only phone he could see was in the Sergeant's office- everyone else had to write home.

"How are you calling me?"

"Oh, never mind that," Rat dismissed easily. "Don't tell Ben I called."

Alex wondered how the man knew that it would be Alex picking up the phone.

"Why are you even calling?" Alex was more than suspicious.

Rat took a while to respond. "…Well, lets just say I want to know you better."

Alex was about to slam the phone down, and Rat must have sensed it. "Wait! Just one second. I have one offer to make."

Alex remained silent, wanting to hear what the man was going to say.

"I just want you to know that if you're ever depressed, I can help you out."

Alex was confused. "Ooookay."

"Hear me out! Heed my offer. Call back if you ever want my help." He gave the teen a phone number, which said teen almost automatically memorized. RATCOOL. 728-2665.

He put the phone back on the hook.

He was thinking about it for the rest of the day.

-XD-

_Countdown: 64 days_

Alex was still thinking about the man's words the next day.

"_I just want you to know that if you're ever depressed, I can help you out."_

What had the man meant by that? One thing was for sure, Rat was a mystery- one that Alex was going to solve.

Breakfast was tense again that morning. Ben didn't say much, partially afraid of putting Alex off. Said teen noticed the silence, but said nothing. The meal ended up being totally silent.

The bond that had been created between Alex and Ben was slowly decreasing, and both had noticed. They rarely spoke anymore. Ben had noticed the depression that seemed to start clinging to Alex's soul- but had been almost afraid to mention it.

Alex had, last night, slept in his own bed for the first time in a while. Unfortunately, that meant the nightmares had come back, full force. The depressing thing was, Ben hadn't come to help him, even if he could hear the teen's cries loud and clear from his room.

-XD-

_Countdown: 60 days_

Here it was. About two months until he died. How great.

Alex had been moping on his bed the whole day. He had refused Ben when said man came up to his room with meals, only thinking about one thing.

"_I just want you to know that if you're ever depressed, I can help you out."_

_RATCOOL. 728-2665._

…

After about another two hours for thinking, he took a deep breath…and picked up the phone. Time to call a Rat.

-XD-

**EDITED: June 25, 2011**

**Please Review! A minute of your time for hours of mine!**

**Tigertopaz- Titanium Banana**


	13. Angel Dust

**WARNINGS: Drug use in this chapter.**

**This fic is dedicated to Insanely Me, whose work I just absolutely adore!**

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

**Now introducing…*drumroll***

**Three Months to Forever Chapter 12: Angel Dust**

_Countdown: 60 days_

Alex waited impatiently while the phone rang. He was thankful that Ben hadn't seen him sneaking off with it.

The phone rang a total of six times before Rat finally answered. "Hello?"

"This is Cub." Alex had decided he was going to get right down to business.

"Do you need my help- already?"

_Already? _"Yeah."

"Okay. I'll send it to you pronto. Don't let Ben see."

_What? _"Thanks…bye."

Rat hung up without saying goodbye, but Alex could care less. 'Send it to you?' Send what?

He was wondering about it the rest of the day.

-XD-

_Countdown: 59 days_

Alex saw the box on the porch the next morning. Ben, conveniently, was in the shower, so he half-ran outside and grabbed the cardboard box. It wasn't that heavy, surprisingly, so he easily hoisted into his arms and carried it up into his room.

The teen wondered how the package could have gotten to him so fast, since snail mail wasn't exactly speedy.

He sat the light box down on his bed. The teen stared at it for a while. Did he really want to see what was in here?

In the end, he decided to just do it.

Taking a deep breath, he opened the box.

"What's that?"

Alex could have cursed Ben's bad timing. "Nothing. Just some stuff I need…someone sent it for me." It was technically true.

Ben glared at him suspiciously. "Okay…but I'm keeping an eye out on you."

All of a sudden, Alex snapped. He was tired of Ben being such a bloody mother hen.

"Well what if I don't WANT you to do that? No one EVER cares about what I might want! Not YOU, not MI6, not ANYONE! WHY, pray tell me, CAN'T I BE A NORMAL TEENAGE SCHOOLBOY FOR ONCE?"

The last phrase was said in a shout, all of Alex's emotions coming out then and there.

Ben was frozen solid by the enormity of those simple, but powerful, words. He watched as silent, uncommon tears rained down the broken face of the teenager he had come to know so well in so little time.

Said Fox started backing out of the room. "I'll…just leave you alone for now…"

**[AN: DAMN YOU BEN!]**

Alex looked up through thick lashes after Ben was gone. "Ben…" He could almost feel it in his bones, however cheesy it sounded. The bond that they once shared, only just a week ago, as gone. Ben the spy was back. He didn't care.

Alex was decided. With a new determination, he ripped open the package. Inside lay…

A letter, something crystallized, some type of powder, and several vials filled with what looked like water, only yellow? What was this?

Curious now, he tore open the letter, which was filled with Rat's messy scrawl.

_Cub, _

Huh. Crude as ever.

_Cub,_

_I know you'll be wondering what this is. To put it lightly, this is angel dust. Ingest these a few times a day. The effect will last for hours. Just tell me when to send more._

_Rat_

Angel dust, huh?

He was sure they had read about it. Phencyclidine was the official. He had no idea how he managed to remember that tidbit of information. PCP was the shortened name, but like Rat had said, angel dust was the "street name." He had been told that by his once-friends at school.

School.

He smiled bitterly. He really was about to become a druggie now.

Alex picked up one of the vials of yellow-y liquid, just analyzing the "angel dust." Finally, he made up his mind. He un-corked the bottle. Closing his eyes, he brought his hand, and essentially the vial, up to his mouth…and threw the liquid back into his mouth.

Slightly grimacing from the taste, he felt the effects almost immediately.

**[Now guys, I haven't tried PCP myself, and Wikipedia can only tell you so much, so I know neither the taste nor the time it takes to get affected. Okay? So don't take my words as the truth.]**

Alex was dizzy…very…dizzy…so he sat on the bed. How big had the vial been? He drug his hand along the bed sheet, searching for it.

He found the bottle, and drearily looked at it. Was that big? He couldn't tell.

Alex faintly realized he had collapsed on one of the over-soft pillows. It was like he was having an out-of-body experience. But the rush…it was incredible. It felt like he could do anything.

Suddenly, he could feel his body convulsing, twitching uncontrollably…but he couldn't bring himself to care. Alex smiled benignly, then suddenly frowned. Where was Ben? He wanted him to experience this…this…_feeling _too. The feeling of being truly _alive._

Finally, after what seemed about an eternity, although was only minutes in reality, Alex's limp body flopped back onto the mattress. His eyes fluttered closed, and he slept.

-XD-

_A Few Hours Later_

Alex came down to the dining room, rubbing his forehead. Damn, would this headache ever go away? It felt great when he first took it, but now he was beginning to regret it.

Ben noticed. "What's wrong?"

"Like you care," Alex snapped. Ben looked a bit hurt, but Alex couldn't draw up emotion to care.

"Suit yourself," the older man almost whispered, then half-stalked off to his room. 'Half' because he didn't put his heart into it. Alex watched him go, heart breaking a bit more with each step Ben took away from him.

What he'd said in the argument was true. No one ever stopped to consider what he wanted, as conceited as it sounded. His whole, short life had been one life after another.

Alex had tried to convince himself that the illusion that had Ben was real. But he was facing the cold reality now. He walked over to the couch, numb, and sank down on the comfortable plush material.

-XD-

_Countdown: 50 days_

Things had progressed from then. Alex continued to use the angel dust. He had already gone through the first set and had called Rat to get him another.

Alex wasn't exactly sure what had gone on during his drugged time since it was like an out-of-body experience, but he could easily guess from the scars on his wrists. Strangely enough, even though he hadn't really been "in it," apparently he had always missed severing the vein that would surely end his life.

Ben had seen the scars, and it hadn't been pretty.

_"You could have died, Alex! This isn't a game! You can still bleed and cry, get hurt! You just don't get it!" Ben yelled at Alex, who sat there listlessly._

_He sighed and dropped into an overstuffed chair. Alex was fine, other than a few scratches, but it wasn't about what happened. It was about what could have happened. _

_Alex had always seemed suicidal, but it had gotten worse in the last few days. _

_Ben looked up for a moment, and when he saw Alex's bored like expression, he jumped back up._

_Stalking to the door, he paused in the doorway to look back at Alex with disgust. "Why do you want to die so much? Hundreds of people would love to have even a couple of more months, weeks even, but you, you…" He stopped and looked at Alex's blank face. "Never mind, your not listening. Just go back to your brooding." He walked off, slamming the door with a little more force than necessary._

_Ben, like so many others, didn't see the tears Alex shed as he left. _

_Alex knew it most likely wouldn't happen, but he wished Ben would find out. He wanted someone to see behind the mask, and find the scared and alone teenager, the druggie. He wanted, no, needed, someone to help him, but he was knew how people were, and was afraid. Of MI6, and abandonment- even if Ben had, in a sense, already abandoned him._

_He wouldn't be able to live the rest of his very short life, knowing that he had opened up, and Ben had left or betrayed him for it._

_So, with that thought in mind, Alex stood up, squared his shoulders, and wiped away the tears from the traitorous red eyes. Someone had to find out soon. Before he destroyed himself from the inside out._

That incident hadn't been pretty. Ben was still pissed off at Alex because of it.

But Alex had a weird feeling that Rat already knew about his fatal disease somehow. It was already spooky that he knew when to send the drugs.

Speaking of Rat, when was K-Unit supposed to come back? He had to ask Ben, however much he detested the idea.

Detested.

A week ago or two, he wouldn't [and couldn't] even use the name and the word in the same sentence together.

He sucked up his inner worries, and went to talk to Ben.

"…Ben?"

"…Hmmm? What?" Obviously Ben was doing something else.

"When's K-Unit coming back from Brecon Beacons?"

"Oh, um…"

Alex waited patiently for the answer.

"Actually…" Ben realized, "They're supposed to come back in about, say, four days? Why'd you ask?"

"No reason," Alex murmured. Four days? That was sooner than he had expected, although he hadn't really been keeping track of such a trivial thing as time.

"They're actually coming back around here and staying in a rented apartment- for easy access, probably- so we'll get to talk to them more often," Ben explained.

Alex was faintly surprised. This was the first conversation that the two had had in a while where neither one yelled or got upset at each other.

For once, he couldn't wait until K-Unit got back.

-XD-

_Countdown: 46 days_

Alex was in a sort of stupor. Well, he thought so anyway. He wasn't sure. He never was anymore. Alex didn't know how much angel dust he had taken this time, only that the rush felt good. But Ben had already given him more than a few odd looks when he had stumbled down the steps, mumbling about the crocodiles that had been chasing him. Or had they? He couldn't tell what was real from what wasn't these days, it seemed.

Ben had been uptight that day, it seemed to Alex, and since it felt like he could do anything, he had tried to give the man a back rub. Tried being the key word. Alex had been pushed off roughly, and he had stared at the man's retreating back while said man went into the kitchen.

He couldn't understand what was going on with Ben. Why didn't he like him anymore?

Alex stared into the shadows, feeling a faint sense of depression creeping into the edges of his brain.

What went beyond the boundary between life and death? It wouldn't- no, _couldn't- _hurt that much to just let go…right?

Maybe he could be with his parents again, and they'd have a true family. Or would he be dragged off into the endless hell that his villains of the past currently resided in? Where would Yassen be? Would he be classified as "good?" Probably not, Alex realized through a fog of white mist. Even if the man never had really wanted to kill him, there were still the nameless others he _had _disposed of. And what for?

Money?

Alex couldn't remember. He was reaching the end of his rope of endurance.

Just as he had collapsed on the couch, someone knocked. Alex nearly jumped out of his skin. What the hell?

"Answer the door, please!" Alex faintly heard Ben yell.

Still slightly dazed, he got up from the comfy seat and wobbled towards the door.

Shakily, he unlatched the lock and opened the door. For a second, he just stood there, looking at the arrivals.

Finally, acknowledgement reached his brain.

"K-Unit!"

-XD-

**EDITED: June 25, 2011**

**Please Review! A minute of your time for hours of mine!**

**Tigertopaz- Titanium Banana**


	14. Spies and Secrets

**This fic is dedicated to Insanely Me, whose work I just absolutely adore!**

**Disclaimer: See Chapters 1-4**

**Now introducing…*drumroll***

**Three Months to Forever Chapter 13: Spies and Secrets**

_Countdown: Still 46 days_

_Oh, shit!_

It was the only ting that Alex's meddled mind was able to comprehend. The slight sober part of him was cursing K-Unit's existence, as well as trying to appear "un-high."

"H-Hello!" he stammered. Or tried to. It came out sounding like, "'eello?" _Damn it!_

"Cub!" Wolf sounded suspicious. Alex wasn't really paying attention to him, though, his eyes were half-fixed on Rat's smirking face. He knew the man would be able to tell exactly how drunk with drugs he was.

He couldn't remember exactly how much he had taken, but he didn't think it had been that much, seeing as he hadn't passed out yet.

"Alex?"

Something was waving in front of his face. What was it? It looked tanned…

"Alex!"

Wolf's angry/suspicious face appeared in his line of vision.

"Whaaa…t?"

"I've been trying to get your attention for the last two minutes! What's _wrong_ with you today?"

"H…headdd hurrts?" the teen croaked, and tried to glare at the smirk he saw Rat shoot at him.

Alex realized he hadn't paid a cent of his [unfocused] attention to Snake or Eagle. "Heeey…"

Rat spoke up, knowing that if Alex was found out, he would be too. No one said he was stupid. "Alex…you should go sit down, maybe sleep a bit."

For once, Wolf didn't argue with his reasoning. "Y-Yeah. You do that."

Alex turned shakily and closed the door.

But not before they saw the scars on his arms.

-XD-

Alex could almost feel the effects of the angel dust wearing off, luckily.

Oddly enough, he realized there were raised voices coming from the kitchen. Being the spy he was, he had to go check what was going on.

The teen tiptoed down the stairs, however cheesy that sounded.

Wolf's deep voice was the first sound that assaulted.

"-HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM?"

"It's not MY PROBLEM, as you so astutely put it, Wolf!" Ben said, frustrated. "It's not MY FAULT if Alex decided to go all EMO on me!"

"BEN CARSILE DANIELS! Alex is YOUR responsibility and the blame will be on YOU if it gets any worse!" That time it was Snake talking- well, yelling really.

"But-"

"No buts!" Alex was surprised to hear the usually hyper Eagle sounding so serious. "Do you KNOW how messed up Alex looked today? He didn't look like he had a normal headache! He ACTED like he was on bloody DRUGS, for God's sake!"

Alex could have sworn his heart stopped.

"Why am I supposed to care if he doesn't even hardly ACKNOWLEDGE my presence?"

"Because, that what- what- oh, what the hell, _lovers _are supposed to do! You need to be there for him! Remember all the things he said that he's done? How is ANY teenager supposed to do ALL THAT and lead a NORMAL TEENAGE LIFE?"

Alex could have kissed Wolf.

"I don't give a SHIT about that! Alex is seriously messed up and I REFUSE to deal with that!"

Alex sat in stunned silence on the stairwell, feeling as if someone had broken off a piece of his heart, his soul.

He realized, however, that if he didn't move, everyone would find him there. He scrambled up the stairs to his room.

It was only until he had collapsed on his pillows that he realized he was crying. Half bawling his eyes out was more like it. Silently, off course.

Alex started weakly when he heard the door open, but didn't bother to see who it might be.

"Oh Alex," a voice that identified the person as Wolf sighed. "What are we going to do with you?"

He didn't respond. What could he say?

Alex just laid there, half-crying, while Wolf tried to console him.

-XD-

Alex came down to the sitting room half an hour later, Wolf trailing behind him. His eyes were puffy, although the red color that had been there earlier had disappeared. Snake took one look at him [he looked like shit] and sent an angry/disappointed glare at the kitchen, where he was still sitting with Eagle and Rat.

"You okay?" Snake asked roughly. While better that Wolf, he really was rubbish at being a least a little 'consoling.'

The teen nodded, and both men noticed that he seemed to have shrank into himself a little bit. While not that big in the first place, he seemed miniscule now. Not to mention the fact that he looked like hell personified.

Dark circles surrounded his eyes, and Wolf couldn't tear the image of the scars on his arms out of his mind. The kid looked like he hadn't slept for days. It was surprising he hadn't dropped dead on them yet. His legs seemed to be shaking slightly, as if he had been putting great strain on them the last few days. It was when Wolf looked into Alex's eyes, though, that he had to suppress his gasp of horror.

The once-orbs of melted chocolate had darkened considerably to a dark brown oak. They were hard and cold- Wolf knew, he had the same look sometimes. But the intensity was different. Even though his gaze was dreary and unfocused right now, the pupils pierced you like a sharp knife. They seemed to cut through you, peer into the depths of your soul. And yet, in their depths, you could see a knowledge, a knowledge too advanced for someone of his age to be able to understand. And yet, there it was, for all the world to see within his haunted stare.

Wolf and Snake really wanted to go kill a Fox right now for making their youngest team member go through this. No kid should have had to.

Alex, on the other hand, while appearing catatonic, was thinking fiercely. He remembered one of his close calls.

_Flashback_

_Countdown: 52 days_

_The phone was ringing. _

_Ben hastened to grab it, but Alex took one look at the caller ID and snatched it away. He hurried up to his room, scared that Ben would hear him. "Hello?"_

"_Is this Alex Rider?" Said teen realized the voice immediately. "This is him, hi Dr. Johnson."_

"_Hello, Alex!" the man said with a cheery voice that reminded Alex of Mr. Smithers'. At the same time, however, he wondered how the man could be so cheerful._

"_What are you calling for?"_

"_Well, I realized that I didn't really get a chance to explain your cancer to you, and I been so busy in the last few days…Russell Brand came in a week ago…but anyway, have you had any symptoms yet?"_

"_Um…" Now that he thought about it. He realized he had been coughing a lot…_

"_Well, there are different stages of your type of cancer. Are you coughing a lot?"_

"…_Yeah, but not much, I guess."_

"_Good. That means you're only on stage one. The cancer is still confined to your lungs. In stages 2 and 3, it will spread to your chest, and the soughing will get worse. Let's hope you only have limited-stage SCLC. Then the cancer will stay confined to your chest. You'll have to come into the hospital when you have about 14 or so days left, so we can monitor you."_

"_Okay. Thank you sir."_

"_No problem. Let's hope you're lucky. Only one in ten people survive. Let's hope you're that one."_

_And on that cheery note, he hung up._

Alex was glad Ben hadn't caught him that day, although he had to lie to him later. "It was just one of my old friends." It technically was true. Dr. Johnson was kind of old, and if he wasn't a friend, no one was.

He had done some research on the topic, however subtly, and had come up with different answers.

One website said this: **Lung cancer is one of the most fatal cancers worldwide, causing up to three million deaths annually. Only one in ten patients diagnosed with this disease will survive the next five fatal disease like all other cancers, results from abnormality in the body's basic unit of life, the cell. Normally, the body maintains a system checks and balances on cell growth so that cells divide to produce new cells only when needed. Interruption in the balance of this system causes an uncontrolled division of cells that eventually forms a mass known as a tumor. Any of the tissues in the lung can become cancer, but most commonly, the cancer comes from the lining of the bronchi. Since this disease tends to spread very early in its course, it is very life-threatening and one of the most difficult cancers to treat. Although it can spread to any organ in the body, the adrenal glands, liver, brain, and bone, are the most common greatest impact on risk of lung cancer is long-term exposure to inhaled carcinogens. Most common of which is exposure to tobacco smoke. The occurrence of lung cancer is strongly linked with cigarette smoking, with about 90% of the disease arising as a result of tobacco used. The numbers of cigarettes smoke over time increases the risk. Among those who smoke two or more packs of cigarettes per day, one in seven will die of lung cancer. Passive smoking or inhalation of tobacco smoke from other smokers sharing or working quarters, is also an established risk factor for the development of the disease. Non-smokers who reside with a smoker have 24% increase risk for developing lung cancer compared with non-smokers.**

Alex didn't smoke, but he guessed his lung were torn up from different missions- it hadn't been pretty when the drum filled with fuel had exploded. He hardly couldn't talk for a week, it was so bad. And the heavy running probably wasn't the best on his lungs, either. The time where he almost drowned [thanks to Scorpia in Venice] didn't help.

Of course, it wasn't like the kids at his school didn't smoke. Even though the Skoda problem had been taken care of, it didn't stop the kids who were already addicted.

_Well, you shouldn't be talking, _he chided himself. He really wasn't much better than any of them.

"Alex?"

Said teen perked up at the use of his name. "Wha…?" It was Ben. Behind him was Eagle, looking not quite happy, but satisfied.

"Eagle told me that Wolf told him that you had heard what I said," Fox explained somewhat guiltily.

"…Ummhmm…" Alex murmured, waiting for Ben to go on.

"…And, I'm sorry. I really didn't mean those things I said. It's just hard, you know, when you aren't really talking to me or anything. I really kind of need you to talk to me. We've been on rough ground the past few weeks, and…I'm sorry."

Ben looked uncomfortable admitting all this in front of K-Unit, but Alex could tell the remorse was genuine.

"…I don't exactly forgive you for making me feel like shit the last few weeks, but your apology is accepted."

Ben looked somewhat happy- until the phone rang.

"Oh, what the hell now?"

Alex, alongside Ben, raced into the kitchen- and he could have sworn that his heart stopped beating when he saw the caller ID.

_St. Dominic's Hospital._

_Not now! Not now! Why now! Please ignore it! _Alex mentally pleaded to Ben.

Of course, fate wasn't that nice to him. With a sinking heart, he could only watch as Ben picked up the phone, pushed the "talk" button, and headed toward the living room- where all of K-Unit was sitting. And as if to taunt him, the volume was turned up to high- meaning that Alex and K-Unit could hear every word of the conversation.

"Hello, who is this?" Ben asked.

"Hi, this is Dr. Johnson. Is this Alex?"

"No, this is his guardian, Ben Daniels. What do you want?" Ben tried not to sound demanding, all while shooting a questioning stare at Alex.

"Well, I was calling to check up on Alex and see how his lungs are doing."

As if to prove the doctor's statement. Alex coughed, a rasping, painful sound.

"Why would you need to check that out? Alex is _fine_," Ben emphasized.

"Oh." Alex could feel it coming: the moment of truth. "So you don't know about the cancer?"

The whole room froze.

"What cancer?" Ben voice was low.

"The lung cancer, of course," explained Dr. Johnson, seemingly oblivious to how tense Ben was.

"Oh, okay, I'll have him call you up later."

And with that, Ben hung up. But then he rounded on Alex.

"And when," he half-snarled, his voice low, "Where you planning on telling me this?"

Alex could feel tears threatening to well up in his eyes. "I didn't want you to know….didn't want you to worry."

Instead of walking out on him like Alex had expected, Ben drew him into a comforting hug as the tears started spilling.

Wolf, always the smart one, said quietly, "C'mon guys. Let's give them some privacy."

Alex felt the men leave the room, but he could care less. Finally, someone knew his secret- well one of them, anyway.

But he could care less. For once, he focused on the comforting embrace, wanting to never let go, wanting to stay there forever.

-XD-

**EDITED: June 25, 2011**

**Please Review! A minute of your time for hours of mine!**

**Tigertopaz- Titanium Banana**


	15. Traitor?

**This fic is dedicated to Insanely Me, whose work I just absolutely adore!**

**Disclaimer: See Chapters 1-4**

**Now introducing…*drumroll***

**Three Months to Forever Chapter 14: Traitor?**

_Countdown: 40 days_

The days passed more quickly after that, but Alex was getting sick of everyone. They all treated him like glass, damn it!

Ben had wanted to go on a little mini-trip to Leeds Castle, but Snake vetoed it, saying that the pollen in the air could harm Alex's lungs more, and so the trip was canceled.

True, Alex had been coughing more often than not, but it didn't mean he was as fragile as a butterfly! Plus, he had forty days left! It wasn't as if he were going to drop dead at the merest thing!

But they had helped- a lot. He had seen an oncologist, and had gone over different forms of treatment, from medicines to chemotherapy. Although the thought was depressing. Surprisingly, none of them had told MI6. Both Ben and Alex knew that if they had, MI6 would have sent him on as many missions as possible and Alex would feel too guilty if he had to quit a mission to do chemo. Plus, it was now safe to say he had asthma, which would compromise a mission too much.

Unfortunately, Alex now had an inhaler, which they all [meaning K-Unit] insisted that he carry with him wherever he went. But after one attack caused by a morning two-mile-long jog, he decided it wasn't that big of a sacrifice.

-XD-

_Flashback_

_Countdown: 42 days_

"_C'mon Cub! You're lagging behind all of us!"_

_Alex was indeed behind all the rest of the men. Wolf had insisted on a jog every morning._

"_It keeps you all in line and in shape," he had explained. They weren't amused. _

_Fortunately, the land was scenic, and Alex discovered something new every day. There was an old forest only a kilometer or so from Ben's house. The men went a new direction every time, though making sure to mark their paths. Alex always enjoyed the time, even if he was half-asleep afterwards._

_But now, it was like a monster had torn gaping holes in his lungs. "I have to stop…" he muttered, half to himself. But somehow, Eagle, the next to last one, heard him. "You can't stop, Cub! Wolf will kill us!" he looked back, and frowned. "Cub? Guys! Stop for a sec!" he called to the rest of the fit men. Eagle stopped to a halt, and went back to where Alex was standing, bent over, breath coming in quick gasps, almost as if he were hyperventilating._

_Wolf had stopped too, motioning that the two men following him should follow suit. "What?" But when he had seen Alex, he ran back towards the gasping teen._

"_Alex! What's wrong?" Ben gasped, half from shock, half from the exercise. _

_But Alex didn't answer. He was too busy trying to breathe. It felt like something was blocking his lungs, preventing air from getting through._

"_Get out of the way!" Snake snapped at the shell-shocked men. He was the medic for a reason. He stopped by Alex's side. "C'mon, Cub, deep breaths! He's having, for lack of better words, an asthma attack," he explained to the others. "He doesn't have his inhaler! Keep breathing, Cub! Cub!"_

_For Alex had passed out._

-XD-

Alex wasn't exactly sure what had happened then, but Ben had explained later that they had to carry him back to the house and help him start breathing. It had been a scary situation for them all.

The doctor had told Alex that his lung was in danger of collapsing. Wolf had then decided that a morning jog was not a critical part of Alex's health.

"Alex! Get down here for your juice!"

The bad thing about having cancer was the treatment. Alex had to drink a lot of fluids now- it felt like gallons a day. Snake had the bright idea to buy a juicer, and the men had all taken part in the "Juicing for Alex's Health Club." The weirdest drink that he had had so far was "green juice-" red onion, cabbage, green apples, and other various fruits and vegetables. Personally, Alex thought it tasted like shit in a cup.

Luckily, it was breakfast time, so that meant hand-squeezed orange juice. Alex _clunked _down the stairs and into his seat at the kitchen table. Ben sat his tall glass of orange-y liquid, strawberry liquid, and scrambled eggs in front of him.

"Thanks, Ben," the teenager told him gratefully. Damn, ever since the truth about his cancer came out, he had found himself with a better appetite than since the Stormbreaker mission!

His smile sobered a bit, though, as he thought of the angel dust still in his closet, hidden by his shoes.

"Alex?" Ben interrupted his thoughts, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," he responded, pasting on a smile. "Thanks for the breakfast, by the way. You really didn't have to do it all yourself."

"Don't be silly," Ben chided. "At this age, I need all the exercise I can get!"

"You're only like…mid-twenties!" Hmmm…Why didn't he know Ben's age yet?

"Twenty eight," Ben mock-sighed. "I'm getting older by the day."

The two were interrupted by the barging-in of K-Unit- including Rat. Alex still couldn't meet the man's eye. He couldn't believe that one of the others hadn't seen the man's…evilness, for lack of a better word. The bad thing was that if he tried to tell Ben, Rat would find out and tell Ben about the angel dust.

But if Alex didn't he knew Rat would anyway- and soon. The evil man probably knew Alex used it at times, like right before bed on certain nights when the urge became too much.

"Ben?" he asked quietly.

"Huh?" said man answered intelligently, mouth stuffed full of yellow-white egg.

"We need to…talk later…"

"Okay…?" Ben half-asked, a weird look coming onto his face [which was somewhat diluted by the piece of egg hanging off his chin], but Alex wasn't listening.

He could have shot himself for instinctively glancing at Rat while saying that. Rat had knew. Rat knew what they were going to "talk" about. He knew that Alex was going to "Rat" him out, then throw the angel dust away, as if it had never existed.

_Oh, shit. Oh, shit. Oh, shit._

Alex had to get out of there. Pushing his glass and plate away from him, he stood up. "I'll be in my room." He had to force himself not to run from the piercing gaze of Rat that he knew was on his back.

-XD-

Alex was already planning his means of escape by the time that Rat got up to him. He was going to hop out one of the windows [even thought he was on the second floor, which meant it would hurt like hell] and go to MI6. They could send him on another mission to stop another psycho-bastard for all he cared, he just needed to get away from Rat!

But his luck of the devil wasn't holding up for him that day. "Oh Alex!" sang Rat in that horrible, greasy tone of his.

Said teen kept quiet, not daring to barely breathe. He was frozen- but in the middle of the room.

He looked around frantically. Where could he hide? The closet would be too confined if Rat found him there. Under the bed? That was just stupid.

Before he could hide, Rat burst into the room, grinning sadistically. He stalked up to Alex, grabbed him by his arms, and pinned him up against a wall.

"Thought you would rat me out, huh?" he hissed, grinning insanely at his own dumb pun.

"Well, I thought I would tell you something. Ben won't want you anymore if you're tainted. That's why I'm here. Do you think I'm here just for fun? No. You have a debt to pay. And I'm here to get it.

"Do you really not recognize me, Alex?" the man asked, seeing the miscomprehension in the teen's eyes. "I'm the Salesman. And you owe me big time."

"Owe you for what?" Alex muttered, stalling.

The man drew back, and slapped the fair-haired teen on the face, sending him reeling to the side. "Are you really that stupid? You destroyed my ship and lost me my money! Do you know how much it costs to go into deep cover?"

"What am I going to pay you with? I don't have any burritos," Alex smirked. For that, Rat- the Salesman- kicked him in the shin. He would have gone sliding to the floor, if not for the bony, yet strong, arms pressing him to the wall.

**[warnings for attempted rape/molestation- no like? Skip until you see 8D8D8D!]**

"No, you idiot boy. I'm looking for something more…fruitful," Rat grinned. Suddenly, Alex found himself being thoroughly kissed. **[1]** Since his arms were trapped above his head, though, his normal first bodily instinct was to try to push away with his hips. This just made the Salesman/Rat more randy, so to speak.

They broke off, the older breathing heavily. Alex drew in a deep breath to yell-

And yelled for a different reason as the older man's hand found its way into his pants.

Well, he tried to yell, anyway. Alex found his airways blocked as the Salesman started slowly strangling him- while jacking him off at the same time. Weird combination.

"Haa- ahh…" Alex was trying to breathe, so badly it hurt. He began to see stars, and panicked.

So naturally, he did what worked in every movie.

Kicked the bad guy in the groin.

Naturally, the Salesman cried out, loosing his grip on Alex's neck. He went crashing to the ground- unfortunately bringing the teen down with him.

As soon as they hit the ground, though, the Salesman rolled on top of him. Wrong move.

**8D8D8D**

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!"

Alex could have cried with relief. Thank god Ben had heard Rat's cry! He really didn't know if he would have survived much longer, to be completely honest.

Ben rushed over to the two of them. Quickly, he untangled Alex from Rat- but was unprepared when Rat suddenly jumped up from his spot on the floor, grabbed Alex [For the second time that day, said boy thought bitterly], and brought a gun to his head.

"Don't make any sudden movements- or I shoot. Put all of your weapons on the ground."

Ben remained frozen.

Rat pushed the gun harder into Alex's temple, making him wince. Why him?

"Let Alex go," Ben demanded coldly. "You don't want him."

"Yes, I do," the Salesman snarled. "_Alex _here owes me big time. And I plan on collecting.

Alex was mentally praying. Hopefully, his, Rat, and Ben's long absences were enough to tip off the rest of K-Unit that something was wrong.

The Salesman dragged Alex out into the hallway. Said teen winced; did the man's hold have to be so tight? Ben was forced to stand, watching, seeing as the gun never left Alex's head.

Unfortunately, there was a window in said hallway, And the Salesman was trying to make a quick escape. Opening/breaking the window with one hand [with some difficulty, Alex noted with satisfaction] , he smiled almost angelically, about to say something- and Alex made his move.

_Punch back with your elbow and fist simultaneously. The elbow jab winds the man, and the fist knocks the gun aside, giving you time to spin around and kick out with all your strength. _**[2]**

He had learned that in Brecon Beacons- and for once he was glad he had toughed the camp out. I had helped him immensely, however much he tried to deny it.

But the move didn't work. The Salesman was anticipating some sort of fight from Alex, and merely blocked with the hand with the gun in it and kicked- sending the teen flying out of the open window.

"Alex!" Ben shouted. It was the second story. Alex had just been tossed out the window. And he had cancer. Why did everything happen to the teen?

Unfortunately for Ben, the Salesman still had the gun. All Ben could think was this:

_Oh, shit._

Suddenly, the Salesman cried out and pitched to the floor, his hand clutching his thigh. The gun had gone off, but it had missed Ben by a long shot.

_What the-_

Oh.

Eagle was standing behind the man, a pistol in his hand. "Gotcha," he grinned, as if out of a bad James Bond movie.

Ben rolled his eyes, but he was immensely grateful. "Thanks, Eagle."

Said man was still smiling. "Hey, I just saved someone! That was fun, I should do it again some time," he joked.

Suddenly, Ben frowned. "Where the hell are Wolf and Snake?"

Eagle frowned a bit. "Outside. They sent me up here. They're taking care of Alex."

"Alex!" Ben's eyes grew wide. He'd completely forgotten! Ben knocked the Salesman out with a blow to the head.

The two once-teammates ran down the steps and out the door, as if they had wings. They ran around the house by the big oak tree, where Alex was unconscious, but moaning in pain.

"Alex!' Ben cried yet again, going toward the injured teen and kneeling next to him. "Where are you hurt?" He didn't try to ouch Alex for fear of hurting him more unnecessarily.

Snake decided to answer that. "It appears like he fell on his right side. A few ribs are broken, his ankle is broken, and his femur is too. We called an ambulance."

Surprisingly, everyone was staying calm. "Why are you guys so…undramatic? He broke half of the left part of his body!" Ben protested.

"Fox, if we panic, it's only going to make it worse. If we try to move him, he'll end up getting more hurt. The thing is, it may be harder to breathe due to the lung cancer. We're only in trouble if he stops breathing."

As if on cue, Alex's breathing grew shallow…then stopped altogether.

"Damn, Snake," Eagle cursed. "You jinxed us."

Snake was already down on his knees, pressing Alex's chest viciously, ignoring the sounds of pain. "Alex, I really don't know if you can hear me, but if we don't get you breathing, it's going to hurt way more than broken ribs."

In between pushing, he was also doing CPR. If the situation wasn't so serious, Ben would have been jealous. "C'mon Alex. Breathe!" He kept on whispering words along those lines, hoping, praying…

-XD-

Ben was relieved. Even if Alex had to stay in the hospital overnight, he was going to be alright. Said man was currently sitting on one of the uncomfortable chairs near the patient's bed, running his fingers through Alex's soft hair.

The bad thing was, he wouldn't get to do much other than lie in bed, depending on his injuries. Yes, his whole right side appeared to have gone an Egyptian mummification, but he was feeling great. Or so the doctors said. He still hadn't woken back up yet after being drugged through surgery.

"Ugh…" Alex groaned. It felt like he had been hit by a truck.

"Alex!" Ben cried. "How are you?"

"Honestly, horrible. How long have I been out?"

"About thirty minutes after surgery," Ben answered. He knew, of course, because he'd been there the whole time. "You have to stay overnight."

Alex was a bit reluctant, remembering the Ark Angel disaster.

Ben noticed. "Alex, you'll be fine. The guards are more well equipped this time. You have nothing to worry about."

_Easy for you to say, _thought Alex. This was going to be a long night.

-XD-

Around eleven o'clock, Alex was feeling drowsy. Actually, more tired than normal. It was like he couldn't even hold his arm up…

He'd been drugged! He was sure of it. The nurse this time hadn't been Diana Meacher, even though he was in the same room as last time. Said nurse could have gotten him hooked up to an IV or given him a shot without it seeming too suspicious.

_Damn it! _was the last thing he thought before he was dragged into darkness.

-XD-

The Salesman laughed silently, sadistically as he looked at the knocked-out teen lying defenselessly on the white hospital bed. It had been far too easy to get one of his people to become a nurse, and even easier to drug him. Ha…a teen superspy. What a joke.

He grunted, also silently, as he picked Alex up. The time at Ben's house had done the fair-haired teen good. He had gained much needed weight while still retaining muscle

Opening the hospital window, he glanced both ways to check if anyone was watching, no matter how cliché that sounded.

Checking that his means of get-away was where it was supposed to be, he held on to the teen tighter…and jumped.

-XD-

**EDITED: June 25, 2011**

**Please Review! A minute of your time for hours of mine!**

**Tigertopaz- Titanium Banana**


	16. Sleepless

**This fic is dedicated to Insanely Me, whose work I just absolutely adore!**

**Disclaimer: See Chapters 1-4**

**Now introducing…*drumroll***

**Three Months to Forever Chapter 15: Sleepless**

_Countdown: 39 days_

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, HE GOT TAKEN?"

Ben was mad at Blunt. No, screw that, he was furious. The bastard had sworn that the greatest amount of protection would be guarding the trouble-seeking teen, then the next day, someone kidnaps him. Notably the Salesman.

How had the Salesman escaped anyway? He would have left a track of blood from his bullet wound, making it hard for him to get away without someone following the track of blood.

Hmmm…

-XD-

_The Salesman smirked as the two idiot men went outside to check on their "poor little Alex." He could easily get away from the blasted place. It wasn't like no one had ever shot him before. Luckily, the bastard…what was his name, Falcon? He didn't bother to remember now that his cover was blown. No. No, it was Eagle. Luckily, Eagle had not been aiming to seriously maim or kill._

_Idiot._

_But he could get out easily._

_Getting up somewhat painfully, he limped over to a spare closet and opened it. Luckily for him, there was a white t-shirt he could wrap his leg in until he could get back to his "hideout." But Fox was a spy. He knew that clothes couldn't be the only thing the man was hiding._

_Grimacing, he dug through the small closet, searching. And he found what he was looking for. Now smiling, he pulled out a gun. Really, what else could you expect to find in a spy's house._

_Now, it was time to escape- once he wrapped his leg. It was a good thing he had managed to push Alex out the window before Eagle had shot him, or he would have already been in chains at the MI6 headquarters._

_It took a precious few minutes to wrap his leg with the t-shirt, which was now a vile dull red. The Salesman wasn't worried, though. He'd survived worse._

_His time in K-Unit had bought him time to know every inch of Fox's house- literally. And he now had to put the knowledge to use. _

_In the kitchen was a secret trapdoor- under the sink, of all places. Damn._

_Unfortunately, his leg slowed him down quite a bit, but he managed to squeeze through the trapdoor to get to the tunnel that went to Fox's garage. _

_Alex had been pushed out the window on the side of the house, so they wouldn't come back here. But the ambulance would be there soon._

_Using his good leg, he climbed the fence that Fox had put up and swung over it. Landing painfully on his wounded leg, he winced._

_The Salesman then proceeded to then take out his cell phone and call one of his right-hand men. _

_The Salesman's business was, basically, a dictatorship. He had bullied his way to the top, and once situated, had no trouble staying there._

_Within five minutes, one of the men that he had ordered to watch the house came screeching up to him in a shiny black Lamborghini Embolado. _

_He opened the fancy door, and got in._

-XD-

_Countdown: 39 days_

"Now, Rider," the Salesman purred. "No more pretending. I want answers, and I want them _now."_

Said teen was currently tied, duck-taped, and handcuffed to a chair. And it was uncomfortable.

"You have no idea how much it cost to replace the damage made by the ship's explosion. I was lucky to survive."

The man ripped off his shirt, which revealed horrible scarring. Alex supposed that he had gotten away with it at Brecon Beacons by simply telling it away as a battle wound or something, though how he managed to get in the SAS with the scarring was unknown. But people were known to tweak the truth, right?

The Salesman continued, "Well, I don't believe in luck. But it is always fun to pretend, is it not, Agent Rider?" He got up in the teen's face, and Alex had to steel himself no to flinch away.

"But you'd know all about agent 'riding,' would you not? You and Fox…Ben seem _very_ close," he smirked, drawing out the word.

Alex wanted to punch the man, but refrained. Getting in trouble this early in the game would get him nowhere. He had to wait and see what the Salesman would do. But speaking of the Salesman, who ever said he couldn't tease the man a bit…?

"What am I supposed to call you, anyway? I don't suppose that 'Salesie' **[1]** suits you very well."

Said man slapped him. Hard. Alex went reeling to the side, and his chair almost tipped over, but righted itself.

"Be quiet," he said, strangely in a seemingly calm voice. Alex sighed- mentally, of course. This man knew how to play the game.

_**Sadistic Man Rule 1: Never appear to let your prisoner get to you. You'll get mad, then make mistakes.**_

"But," the Salesman continued, "You can call me… Zlo."

Alex raised an eyebrow. Even if he was only fluent in Spanish, German, Japanese, and French _[only?]_, his uncle had taught him other phrases in different languages. He waited for the Sal…Zlo to explain.

"Zlo means, basically, in Serbian- as well as other countries. My parent came from Serbia," Zlo clarified.

Alex half-heartedly nodded his head, just soaking up the information. It could be useful later.

Apparently, Zlo thought he was being too lenient on his prisoner, because he punched the fair-haired teen on the chest- right where the old bullet wound was, and kept his fist there, pushing into the scar.

Alex whimpered, barely able to hold back a scream. Never mind that the actual torture hadn't begun yet- this _burned._

"Stopitstopitstopit!"

But Zlo kept his hold on Alex's chest.

Alex had to fight to think. "This is more recent than you think. If you kill me now, you won't get any answers," he wheezed.

He hadn't been feeling any of the normal signs of his cancer, for which he was eternally grateful. All medical equipment was left at the hospital, so if Alex had an attack, there was potentially nothing he could use to help himself.

Oh, shit.

He only had thirty-nine days left. A little more than a month.

The doctor didn't really ever have time to explain the cancer to him, so he really had no idea what to expect. But what he did know was that if he didn't escape in time, he was toast.

A dead man.

-XD-

_Countdown: 37 days_

Ben was going completely ballistic. Alex was still missing, and they still had no idea where he could be.

Unlike other missions, Alex had no type of tracking device.

Ben was pissed at the heads for not giving Alex something to keep with him at all times.. As much as he hated to admit it, Alex was as much of an agent as he was. So why didn't he get the benefits? MI6 surely didn't care for the teen in the rare brief periods where Alex actually went to school.

He sighed from where he was sitting in his living room. He needed to do something. Right now. No more of MI6's bullshit.

Ben stood up, stretched, and put his battle face on. Blunt wouldn't know what hit him.

-XD-

_Countdown: 36 days_

Alex couldn't speak.. He could almost feel the pleurisy in his lungs, which was horrible in his condition. Lung cancer coupled with pleurisy wouldn't get him anywhere except the hospital.

Luckily for him, Zlo hadn't tried to defile him again, but he could tell it was soon coming.

Alternatively, his men loved torture. The longest he had gone without being tormented in some way was about three hours, enough to try to tend to his wounds after waking up from unconsciousness.

Alex had no idea how long he had been in the cell. It felt like a week, but couldn't have been more than three days.

Right now was one of the resting periods. Alex was sore all over. He had already torn up his t-shirt to use as gauze. His pants were bloody. They had originally been brown, but were now unrecognizable.

He had whip wounds along his back, his feet were badly damaged, he had new burn marks, and he had lots of other cuts and bruises everywhere- not to mention the lack of real sleep. Sure, he had been knocked out, but that didn't give you the feeling of actually sleeping.

Suddenly, Zlo appeared at the door of the cell. He barged in, and slammed the door shut. Alex raised one eyebrow. The man usually wasn't this angry.

"I have a man in at MI6. And apparently, they are going to come out _looking_ for you," he sneered.

Alex stayed silent.

"I bet you would love to know who it is, wouldn't you?" Zlo asked. "I really don't see the problem with telling you. You'll find out soon either way."

Alex was dying to know, but knew that he would have to wait. "Whatever," he mumbled.

Zlo apparently thought he was being too weak, because his whole expression changed. "But that's not what I'm here to talk to you about. Come here, Alex," he motioned with his hand.

Said teen stayed put. If he went along, it was suicide.

Zlo didn't grow angry, which surprised Alex. But he did lunge at the teen and blindfold him. It wouldn't do if Alex knew his way through the dreary hallways.

Alex felt at the man pushed the small of his back, causing him to stumble and almost fall.

He took a right, left, left, right, left…

Finally, the sequence of turns got too confusing, so Alex gave up trying to memorize his way through the tunnels.

After what seemed like a hundred turns, though, they got to their destination, and Zlo tore the blindfold off. Alex stared.

The room was completely white. Completely. He could see that when the door closed, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the door and one of the other walls. The bed was white also. Even the CHAINS on the bed were white.

Alex had a clue as to what was going on, but he wasn't sure.

"What is-" he started to ask, but was cut off when Zlo shoved him onto his bed and turned his face to the side.

"Don't talk," the man ordered. "This could go very badly for you if you don't."

From somewhere in his pocket, he grabbed a pair of tweezers and what looked like a very miniature speaker.

He grasped the speaker in the tweezers, and very slowly lowered it into Alex's ear.

Alex wanted to protest, to squirm away, to do _anything but_ knew if he jerked while the tweezers were deep in his ear, he could damage the delicate area.

Once Zlo deemed the job finished, Alex turned his head a bit to see if the thing that had been out in his right ear would fall out. But it didn't. It must have been specially.

"Now you can hear me wherever, whenever," the older man smirked. "And don't try to take it out. It can actually send a shock through your ear and fry your frontal lobe. So I wouldn't try, unless you want to literally want to be deaf in one ear."

It was basically nighttime [not the Alex would know that, with the whole room being so bright], so Zlo attached his arms to the handcuffs at the top of the bed, and his feet to the cuffs at the end. He then tightened the chains, leaving Alex wincing mentally.

Zlo got up and headed to the wall/door. "Sweet dreams, Alex. Or maybe not."

He then left.

Alex wondered what that meant. He certainly wasn't that tired right now, but was in a hell of a lot of pain. The chains stretched his body, stretching out the wounds and hurting him more. There was about a half-inch leeway, but Alex's scars and wounds hurt too much to try and move right then.

He just had to wait and see what the man would do.

-XD-

_Countdown: 34 days_

Alex was exhausted. He hadn't slept at all since he had been imprisoned in that maddening white room. He was almost delirious.

Alex had been whipped by a nameless sadistic bastard the first night in the room. But that wasn't the worst part. The worst part had come afterwards.

_Countdown: 36 days_

_Alex was bleeding profusely all over the place, but mainly on his stomach. He hurt all over._

_He knew he was about to pass out from the pain. He could feel the blackness engulfing him…_

_Just as he closed his eyes, though, loud music invaded his right ear. _

_Alex gasped, his hand automatically reaching out to try and block his ear from the terrible barrage of sound, only to have it held firm by the blasted white chains. His eyes opened widely._

_As soon as he opened said eyed, however, the terrible sound stopped. _**[2]**

_Thinking mistakenly that he was safe, eh could flit back to unconsciousness, that it was just a flaw in the design, he closed his eyes again- and was once again attacked with sound._

_And as soon as he opened his eyes, it stopped._

"_Alex," a purring voice identified as Zlo purred in the built-in headset. "It's not going to be that easy to fall asleep. If I were you, I wouldn't even try."_

_Alex started mentally praying to whatever god was listening. He knew he was going to need it._

-XD-

_Countdown: 34 days_

The speaker crackled again, but Alex didn't know why. He had forced himself to keep his eyes open, but could feel them drooping…drooping…

"BANG!"

The loud sound made him open his eyes again. Alex could feel tears prickling his eyes, though not for the first time. After the first day and a half, he had broken down and almost begged Zlo to make it stop.

He was panting. But then the silky, yet greasy voice filled his brain.

"Do you know whose fault it is that you're here?"

Alex shook his head jerkily, making the tears spill down the side of his face.

"Its yours. All yours. Ben decided you were too clingy, too emotional, and let the guards in the hospital take a break. Obviously, he didn't find you important enough to care. He thinks you're a burden."

Alex shook his head more frantically. "No. No. You're lying."

If he had been in a better frame of mind, he wouldn't have believed the bullshit the man was sprouting. Since when was he clingy _or_ emotional? But his tired mind would soak anything up like a sponge, and he believed the deception.

"No I'm not, Alex. You'll see soon. And I think I'll let you sleep on that tonight."

And for the first time in two, almost three days, Alex closed his eyes and succumbed to sleep.

-XD-

_Countdown: 34 days_

Zlo could have jumped up and down, although he certainly refrained from doing so.

The boy owed him a large debt. The sinking of the Mayfair Lady was not a laughing matter. The boat had cost him millions of peso, the Cuban currency. The stupid boy had to pay him back.

And he was enjoying seeing the once seemingly fearless teen broken and sobbing, his mind bending to his will.

But Zlo knew it wouldn't last. His spy in MI6 had told him to be ready for an assault on this base any time soon.

And he wasn't disappointed.

On his hidden cameras and monitors, he could see military soldiers and agents line up and surround the area.

MI6 was here.

-XD-

**[1] Sale-sea or Sale-zee**

**[2] Idea taken in part from AH's Gatekeepers book three: Nightrise where Scott gets tortured. D:**

**EDITED: June 25, 2011**

**Please Review! A minute of yours for hours of mine!**

**Tigertopaz- Titanium Banana**


	17. Hell in a Handbasket

**This fic is dedicated to Insanely Me, whose work I absolutely adore!**

**Disclaimer: See Chappies 1-4.**

**Now introducing...*drumroll***

**Three Months to Forever Chapter 16: Hell in a Handbasket**

_Countdown: 35 days_

Ben wanted to curse MI6 for being so…damn…_slow_!

He had approached them two days ago, and while he could get that they needed to find out where the Salesman had taken Alex, did they have to take so bloody long?

K-Unit had volunteered on the first day the location was announced. They, of course, wanted to be on the front line, so to speak.

The bad thing was, they hadn't gotten a new team member yet, so it was decided that Seal, from E-Unit, would fill in.

Secretly, they were all glad that it was him. Seal was a genuinely good person. He had a good sense of humor, but also had the sense to know when to crack jokes, and when to be serious. He was actually one of the most fit men there, besides Wolf, of course. Everyone liked him, which was one of the biggest differences between him and the leader of K-Unit.

The man was actually albino. No one teased him for it, but he often complained that it made it impossible to get a proper tan, and the spray-on stuff made him look like Eagle on drugs. Said man wasn't amused.

Ben thought Seal would be good for his old team to work with, who were still partially shocked by Rat's betrayal, though none were actually upset by the loss.

"RING!"

The too-loud sound of his telephone cut through his thoughts. MI6. It had to be.

He raced into the kitchen- for he was certain that's where the phone was- but it wasn't there.

"Bloody hell!" he snarled. This was _not_ the time to lose the phone.

Ben raced throughout the house, banging his knee several times in the process. Finally, he found the phone in Alex's bedroom. He really didn't know it had gotten there.

Ben looked at the caller ID, which happened to be…

A toll-free call. **[1]**

Ben stood for a second, looking at the phone. He swayed a bit…and fainted. **[2]**

-XD-

"Ben! Ben! Wake up!"

Someone was shaking him. "Stop it," he muttered, but without much force.

"Ben! C'mon! We have to go rescue Cub!"

That woke him up. "What?" Now he could see that it had been Snake talking.

"We got permission from those bastards! Units A through F are coming, plus us. Apparently, they want their 'star agent' back," Wolf answered, though he didn't sound nearly as gruff as normal. "We have to leave in three hours, but it will take a longer time to actually get to the spot. We'll probably start the invasion tomorrow."

"Good," he answered, but then looked at his surroundings. He was in his bed, his unit all around him…but how had they gotten into his house?

He asked them, and to his faint surprise, they all blushed.

"Um…" Eagle began. Ben fixed him with his best glare. "What happened?" he crossed his arms.

"Well," Eagle mumbled, "We kind of had to…breakinyourwindow."

The last part was said very fast.

Ben scowled and rolled his eyes. "You idiots." He wasn't that upset; Smithers could fix it easily enough.

"The question is," Snake interrupted, "Why were you unconscious?"

It was Ben's turn to blush. "Um…I don't think it's necessary to disclose that information."

They all glared at him, but decided not to ask.

"We found you in Cub's room," Eagle piped up again. "Why were you in there?"

"I was answering the phone," Ben said. "I really need to go back in there to get it."

And so the foursome [Seal wasn't with them] went on their way to Alex's room.

All of their moods dimmed as they went into said teen's room, knowing that every second wasted, Alex was probably getting horrendously tortured.

"It smells like strong ammonia," Snake commented. As he was the medic for the unit, he had very strong senses, including smell.

"That's funny," Ben commented. He had the phone, and was holding it loosely in his hand. "We certainly haven't had any ammonia around anyone."

"It seems to be coming from the closet…" the medic murmured. He crept to the bed and began searching,

"What are you looking for?" Eagle inquired. "Cub doesn't seem like the type to be hiding porn magazines in his shoes."

Snake glared at him for a second, but the comment triggered something in him.

"Hey Wolf…?" he asked.

"Yes?"

"Remember that day we visited Cub, and he seemed a little loopy?"

Wolf's face scrunched up. "Yeah, but wasn't he just sick or something?"

Snake held his breath, and lifted up Cub's shoes.

"I think I know why," he said…as he held up a bag stuffed full of PCP.

-XD-

_Countdown: 34 days_

They were about to surround the site where Alex was being kept. Ben gritted his teeth. Those bastards deserved to die!

True, he was mad at Alex for betraying him, but he really couldn't bring himself to be too mad. He should have expected something like this. Alex had been acting really weird at times.

Of course, his first reaction hadn't been that calm.

_Countdown: 40 days_

"_What the hell is that?" Ben shrieked- very unmanly-like. The phone had dropped out of his grip._

"_I believe that it's PCP," Snake answered, his face grim. The atmosphere suddenly seemed very cold._

"_PCP?" Eagle questioned, as he found he was the only one who could form an understandable sentence. "What would Cub be doing with…with PCP? Surely that," he gestured, "can't be PCP."_

_Snake stuck his hand in the bag, and took out some of the offending objects. He examined them, glaring at them and sniffing the material._

_With a heavy heart, he sighed, "I hate to say this, but it is PCP."_

_Ben finally regained his voice. "I don't think he ever used it…"_

"_Are you blind?" Wolf all-but-yelled. "He looked like hell personified, and here you are saying that you didn't notice a thing!"_

_Ben at least had the sense to look guilty. "Um…Well, that was kind of when we…weren't speaking to each other."_

"_No shit, Sherlock!" Snake finally yelled. "Why do you think he started using the blasted drug anyway? It at least explains why he looked like that when we came over!"_

"_I'm sorry," Ben half-whimpered. He knew he had made huge mistakes, but did they have to keep guilt-tripping him?_

_As if reading his thoughts, Eagle decided to interrupt. "Guys, arguing isn't going to help at all. Right now we need to focus on getting Cub back. We can ask him about it once we get back."_

_For once, the men listened to the normally hyper man._

_Snake sighed. "I'll have to keep this and try to find where he got it."_

_Ben's eyes lit up. "Wait…"_

"_What?" Wolf asked._

"_The Salesman specialized in selling drugs, right?"_

_The men went silent as they comprehended what that meant. _

"_That bastard!" Snake growled. "He knew it would be easy to sneak Cub the PCP while he was so depressed about the cancer, and it would be easy to get it."_

"_That's why we have to rescue Cub," Ben said. "Who knows what else the Salesman could be tempting him with?"_

-XD-

_Countdown: 34 days_

Zlo knew he had to do something to the boy before MI6 got in there. The 'revenge' had lasted shorter than he had first planned, but he was almost happy to know that Alex would be in physical and emotional pain before he died.

He got up from his chair and started stalking down the dirty hallways, spitting in disgust. The place was vile compared to his old ship…

Finally, he got to Alex's room. The boy was sinking into a deeper and deeper depression ever since those few sleepless days and nights. He ate the completely white meals that were brought to him once every day, but without the passion. Alex no longer felt the need to get out of the room that had become his personal hell.

Zlo had decided to put the boy out of his misery…slowly. Of course, it wasn't going to be completely painless. No. Not at all. That wouldn't do.

He had a syringe in his pocket which was used for the prisoners that they either had to dispose of or had no use for anymore. It attacked the senses and paralyzed the body, so that the victim had to stay still through the pain. The drug made the victim feel like he or she is being electrically shocked, and that acid is eating his body from the inside out before actually killing the person. There were actually more effects than that, but those were the main ones. All in all, it was not a pleasant death.

He looked at the teen sitting, nearly catatonic, on the all-white bed.

"Alex," he purred. The teen visibly jumped, but merely stared up at his threatening form blankly.

"I have some more…angel dust for you. But you have to inject this kind," he explained.

At the words 'angel dust,' the teen perked up. Zlo tossed said syringe onto the bed, and left the room without another word.

Alex picked up the injection with faint interest. The liquid inside was clear, and he really didn't have a reason to distrust the man. After all, he had told Alex about Ben's betrayal. Wasn't that reason enough?

So, with a heavy heart, but a light head, he positioned the syringe on his wrist- right above one his scars- pushed the tip past the layer of skin, and injected the deadly poison into his system. Not two minutes afterwards, he collapsed onto the bed, eyes open but glazed. Zlo rushed into the room and attached his arms and legs to the various chains adorning the bed.

"You bastard," Alex slurred at him, but without much emotion.

"Takes one to know one," Zlo smirked back. He whirled around and left the room for a second time. He had things to do.

-XD-

_Countdown: 34 days_

Alex was in a world of pain. It felt like a series of mini-shocks were cascading through his body, causing immense pain. The worse thing, though, was that he couldn't do even as much as twitch, he was bound so tightly. He wasn't stupid. He now knew the injection had been lethal poison. Plus, he had to try not to scream, in fear of hurting his lungs even more. Even without the deadly injection, his lungs felt like they were being burnt, probably caused by a combination of pleurisy caused by earlier screaming and the cancer. He mentally sighed. Dr. Johnson would most definitely kill him- if he weren't already dead by then.

The question was, did he want not to live that badly? Ben thought he was a burden, and if he didn't have Ben, who did he have? Certainly MI6. K-Unit was nice, but they didn't offer the support Alex needed. Take away all that, and what did you have? A broken teenager who just saved the world a few times. Nothing special. And legally an orphan, by all rights. They still hadn't even found Jack. **[3]**

He really didn't have anything to live for, not anymore. And it would be so much easier to succumb to the blackness already at the corner of his vision.

He could see every one again. He'd get to talk to his mother and father he never knew, get to talk to Ian and Yassen…

Yassen. What would he say right now?

He'd probably curse Alex for being so weak. He was still young, and could still offer so much to the world…

He had to fight. If not for Ben, then at least for Yassen and his parents. He still wasn't sure about Ian, though…

But that wasn't important. What was important was that he was going to fight.

-XD-

_Countdown: 34 days_

Ben's heart was pounding as the men all surrounded the fort. Usually, he was calm and collected [or at least somewhat] before a mission, if that's what you could call this. But this was _Alex._ No one could afford to half-ass anything on this mission. K-Unit was surprised at MI6's willingness to find Alex; until Ben explained to them that they probably just wanted their star agent back.

MI6 had told them that the Salesman didn't have any protection on the outside, but Ben didn't believe them. Sure, super-villains were cocky, but not _that_ cocky. Still, he wasn't about to defy orders, even though he was willing to storm the place himself.

All of the men had been given a _very _in-depth briefing about the compound, the men inside it, etc., even the non-SAS men. It had taken at least thirty nerve-wracking minutes.

They had about 28 SAS men altogether, and about ten MI6 agents had come. So all in all, they had almost forty men. Hopefully, that was enough to overcome the Salesman's men.

But all Ben could do at the moment was wait.

-XD-

Zlo was lucky that he had already thought this out. Surprisingly, 45 men were at the compound. He knew that some military force would find him someday, somehow. So it was easiest to get enough men so he couldn't go down without a fight.

Silently, he activated the mines on the ground surrounding the place. The walls were, well, explosive-proof. It would take a lot to take it down.

He glanced up at the monitor showing him a steady shot of Alex's cell. He was indeed still strapped to the bed, but his teeth were tightly clenched, and you could tell that he had bitten his lip raw with the effort not to scream. If Zlo had had a heart, he might have felt sorry for him. Might have.

But everyone knows that villains don't have hearts.

-XD-

Ten minutes later, Ben was still waiting. What the hell was taking so long? Alex was getting _tortured_, for God's sake!

The signal was going to be by hand. The leader of the mission would take his right hand and make a chopping motion downwards, which would be passed along through the group, and they would move forward. If they had to stop, the leader would take his right hand and then make a fist 90 degrees out and held up high. This also would be passed back and everyone in the patrol would get into cover immediately and if none is available then they were to lie on the ground, weapons pointing outwards.

He was in the first wave out of five, eight in each wave. He was on the Charlie fire team. That was lucky, because he just wanted this all to be over.

As if an angel in Heaven had heard him, the signal was sent out for the first wave. Heart thumping in his chest, he didn't quite move yet, but instead waited for the grenadiers to throw the frags at the building.

The fragmentation grenade [frag] is an anti-personnel weapon that is designed to disperse shrapnel upon exploding. The body is made of hard plastic or steel. Flechettes, notched wire, ball bearings or the case itself provide the fragments. When the word grenade is used without specification, and context does not suggest otherwise, it is generally assumed to refer to a fragmentation grenade.

These grenades were sometimes classed as defensive grenades because the effective casualty radius of some matched or exceeded the distance they could be thrown, thus necessitating them being thrown from behind cover. The Mills bomb or F1 grenade are examples of defensive grenades where the 30–45 m casualty radius matched or exceeded the 30 m that a grenade could reasonably be thrown.

Modern fragmentation grenades such as the United States M67 grenade have a wounding radius of 15 m (half that of older style grenades, which can still be encountered) and can be thrown about 40 m. Fragments may travel more than 200 m.

After the first initial round of explosives, the building was shaking, but no real damage had been done yet. Still Ben waited. He would infiltrate the building after they had taken out the wall.

Two rounds later, the walls were cracked, but by some miracle, they weren't down yet.

"We're out of ammo!" Ben thought he heard someone yell.

Shit. Was the mission over before it had really started?

Suddenly, Seal shouted, "I have one more grenade!'

Ben could have kissed him.

-XD-

Inside the confinement of the walls, Zlo's men were preparing for the second when the wall broke.

They didn't have to wait long. With a final _crack_, the wall shuddered and fell back into the wall, spreading debris everywhere. Luckily, Zlo's men were smart enough to back away from said wall before it collapsed.

And with that, the world went to hell in a handbasket.

The SAS weren't exactly being quiet. Already, one-eighth of his men were down, followed by one-ninth of the SAS.

Zlo quickly escaped to the control room. It wouldn't do if he were killed right from the start. His men were well-trained. They could handle this.

Zlo had put two guards outside of the boy's room- not that that would exactly do anything. The boy was already as good as dead anyway.

But he was interested in the Daniels person. He could be useful.

Note to self: Capture Ben Daniels.

-XD-

"Go find Alex," Ben ordered Seal. Said man normally would have been put out at being ordered around, but it was hardly the time.

Seal snuck around the musty hallways- well, the ones that hadn't already been destroyed by the confused fighting. It was a miracle that none of K-Unit hadn't died yet.

He started to round a corner, but drew back quickly when he saw two men guarding a door at the end of the next hallway. That _had _to be Alex's cell.

As quickly as possible, he rounded to corner and shot both of them in quick succession. Obviously, they had expected everyone to be occupied with the bigger battle, and they let their guard down. Well, that had cost them their lives.

Running now, he went to the cell holding Alex.

What lay inside made his heart nearly stop- even if he'd never really had a strong connection to the kid.

Alex was twitching, his back arching off the bed at times. His eyes were closed tightly and his teeth were clenched.

What was really weird was the coloring of the room. It was pure white. Other than Alex, there was not a spot of color other than the pure white that engulfed the area.

Carefully, Seal broke the cords and chains holding Alex down, and then lifted him into his arms. It surprised him how little the teen weighed, but considering how he looked right now; it suddenly became less of a mystery.

Slowly but surely, Seal and the precious bundle in his arms made their way outside.

It was Seal's turn for his heart to stop as he took in the sight of the Salesman holding a gun to Ben's head.

-XD-

_Earlier_

Ben stalked around the compound, somehow managing to avoid the numerous bullets sent his way. He was searching for the Salesman. He had more than just a few bones to pick with him.

It seemed luck was with him today. After countless turns and twists in the confusing hallways, he found a room that had several surveillance cameras playing back to screens placed in the small room.

He went in, and was surprised to see that it was empty. The Salesman must have fled. Pity.

Ben stared up at one of the live clips playing on the TV. There was one especially intriguing room. It was completely white, but there were chains on the bed. He squinted up at it, trying to see if that was Alex's room or not. Ben hoped that Seal had rescued Alex already.

A hand clamped onto his shoulder, and it took all of his self-control not to instantly whirl around. He knew who that had to be.

"Well, well, well," a slick voice drawled. "What do we have here?"

-XD-

_Countdown: 34 days_

Seal was frozen in place. What could he do?

Suddenly, he spotted a land mine behind the Salesman. Dozens had already been killed by the blasted things. If he could just push him onto it…

Handing Alex over to another man from D-Unit, he started running from the side.

The Salesman saw him too late. Even as he swung the gun around to shoot him, he was tackling him to the ground and pushing Ben out of harm's way. Dimly, he registered that the gun had still gone off and that Ben was clutching his leg…

'_Alex…' _was his last thought before the world around him exploded into flame.

-XD-

_Countdown: 34 days_

Ben could only stare in horror and pain as he saw Seal and the Salesman go up in flames. Seal had saved him, and sacrificed his life in the process…

Already, the Salesman's men were retreating, and he found himself being lifted onto a stretcher from God-knows-where.

Ben got put onto a helicopter filled with other injured people and a few medics. He felt immensely guilty when he looked over and saw other, more badly injured people, surrounding him.

But he forgot all about his guilt when he saw who had been placed next to him.

"Alex!"

But the euphoria of seeing his, well, boyfriend alive again died as he heard what the other medics were saying.

"_Poison…"_

"…_Might not survive…"_

"…_horrible seizures..."_

Sighing heavily, he turned over onto his good side, determined to rest and keep a good morale for the journey home- or, at least, to the hospital.

-XD-

**[1] Don't you hate it when that happens?**

**[2] Well, I decided this story was running a bit low on humor…**

**[3] HA! I bet you forgot all about her, didn't you? Well, then again, this plotline didn't really turn out the way I planned. Hell, the only reason for the PCP in the first place was my health class where we were learning about various drugs!**

**[4] I wanted to do authentic-looking Morse code, but it didn't turn out well when I actually typed it. Oh well…**

**EDITED: June 25, 2011**

**Please Review! A minute of your time for hours of mine!**

**Tigertopaz- Titanium Banana**


	18. Aftermath

**This story is dedicated to Insanely Me, whose work I absolutely adore!**

**Disclaimer: Not mine.**

**Now introducing...*drumroll***

**Three Months to Forever Chapter 17: Aftermath**

_Countdown: 33 days_

Ben groaned. He tried to sit up, but winced as pain shot up his leg.

"How you feeling?" a voice asked from the side. Ben's head whipped to the side so fast he was surprised that he didn't get whiplash. "What the hell?"

"C'mon, Ben, don't say that you have amnesia as well as a bullet wound?" Eagle asked him jokingly.

"You bastard," Ben sighed. A day without either scaring someone or saying something stupid was a day wasted- at least, in Eagle's opinion.

"You didn't look on the other side of you yet, did you?" Eagle commented, amused.

"Why, what's over th-" Ben's voice cut off when he saw the sight on the next bed.

It was Alex. And he looked horrible. He was pale, unhealthily so. Scratches adorned his face, arms, neck, and basically anywhere else Ben looked. Alex also had a chest tube, which made Ben feel even worse. All of the white sheets on the bed were gone.

"His condition is, well, horrible," Eagle admitted. "Whip marks on his back, extreme pleurisy caused by screaming, sleep deprivation, signs of having been shocked with extreme electrical force…Basically, he's a mess. The doctors have had to sedate him several times already.

"Why doesn't he have sheets?"

"He didn't like them apparently."

Ben remembered seeing what looked possibly like Alex's cell on the screen in the control room at the Salesman's hideout. "I think it was the color. Alex's room that they were keeping him in- it was completely white. Not a speck of another color. White must be a bad color for him now."

Eagle nodded, soaking up the important information.

"How long have I been out?" Ben inquired. Surely a leg wound couldn't have hurt him too much!

"Just about a day. It's," Eagle checked his watch. "It's about eleven o'clock AM right now. You really haven't missed too much."

"What about my leg?"

"It's going to be fine. It missed the fibula, thank god. But unfortunately, the gastrocnemius was hit, and the bullet went straight through. You'll have to be on crutches for a while, or a wheelchair if you prefer that." Of course, Eagle knew that Ben would choose the crutches. He wouldn't want to be seen as a helpless person in a wheelchair. His suspicions were confirmed a second later.

"Crutches are fine. Why'd they put me in the same room as Alex?"

"Well, apparently they thought it would be good mentally for him."

"Oh," he said, but remembered something else. "Where's Snake and Wolf?"

"They're getting coffee. We've been here since like eight o'clock."

Ben raised an eyebrow. Why wasn't Eagle hyper?

As if reading his mind, Eagle answered. "Wolf didn't let me have any," he said with a pout, which looked totally inappropriate on his SAS-hardened face. Ben nodded in understanding.

"They're having a memorial for Seal in the next week or so."

Ben's face immediately hardened. Seal shouldn't have had to die, least of all to save him!

"Why do you think he sacrificed himself like that?" he asked.

Eagle thought for a moment, and then responded. "I think mainly for Alex. Alex would have been crushed by your death. It would have put a severe mental strain on him, what with the cancer…and the PCP."

"We still have to ask him about that, you know."

Ben looked towards the door. It didn't truly surprise him that the other two members of K-Unit had been listening in. After all, he had known them for at least a year. "How long have you been listening?"

"Since Eagle was talking about Seal's memorial."

"Oh."

-XD-

_Countdown: 31 days_

It took two more days for Alex to wake up. He would have been awake sooner, but the horrendous nightmares had forced the doctors to drug him more.

Finally, when Ben woke up that morning, it was to see two twin chocolate eyes staring at him.

"Gah!" he screamed, sitting straight up. "What the hell?"

But Alex just stared. He looked almost catatonic. "Alex?" Ben tried, but after getting no response, he clapped his hands together in front of the teen's face.

Said teen started. "What?" His voice was scratchy, and Ben could understand why.

"Oh, um…nothing. You just looked…out of it."

Alex just stared at him until he flipped over onto his back.

Inside Alex's mind, his conscience was debating with itself. Should he ask Ben?

Finally that part of him won. "Ben?"

Said man looked back at him. "Yes, Alex?"

"I…I never really considered it. I guess I was just selfish…" Alex mumbled.

Ben sat up in his white bed, confused. What was Alex talking about?

Luckily, the teen continued without prompting. "I was a burden. You thought I was too emotional… Too…clingy."

Alex was silently crying, which was what Ben hated the most. Alex was supposed to be _strong_, dammit!

Forgetting about the pain for a minute, Ben carefully got up and sat himself onto Alex's bed. He embraced the teen [his _boyfriend_ too, he reminded himself].

Luckily for Alex, there was a half-full cup of water by his bed, so Ben grabbed it and forced the teen to drink it.

After that was over, Ben started talking again. "That's not true, Alex," he murmured into the teen's ear. "The bastard-ass Salesman planted those words into your brain. I don't think you're a burden." He took a deep breath. "I love you, Alex. You're one of the strongest, bravest people that I've ever met."

Inwardly, he was rolling his eyes at himself for being so cheesy, but he didn't really care. All that mattered right now, at this very moment, was Alex.

"Really?" The fragile looking teen asked. Ben could almost hear his own heart break.

"Really."

It was then that Ben noticed the dark lines under Alex's eyes. He had probably stayed up all night thinking about it.

"Alex, you need to go to sleep."

Said person obliged, to Ben's relief. Looking around, he saw that no one was going to be in or out of their room very soon, so he closed his eyes and fell asleep, limbs intertwined with Alex's.

Little did he know, three other men were watching the whole scene unfold.

"Awww, that was so _cute,_" Eagle drawled. "So cute it makes me want to puke my guts up."

"Shh!" Snake shushed, but he was smiling.

Silently, the last three members of the K-Unit crept away from the room.

-XD-

_Countdown: 26 days_

Ben stared at Seal's grave soberly. He should not have had to die, least of all for him.

The embarrassing thing was that he was in a wheelchair, and would be for at least a month. Afterwards, he would walk with a limp- meaning that MI6 wouldn't want him anymore, but they had promised to pay all of his bills and for important needs for the rest of his life. Lucky him.

Alex had been deemed still too sick to leave the hospital. The doctors needed to track his progress, both with his recent wound and the lung cancer. And with only about 26 days left, Ben could understand why. Yes, he kept track of the days Alex had left. He had found a calendar that Alex had marked on that simply said 'Countdown.' It wasn't too hard to guess what he had meant.

The service had been entirely too posh, Ben had decided. Seal would have wanted them to say a few words and be done with it.

He sat there, staring at the gravestone.

**Nathan "Seal" Morgan  
A true friend and a true hero.**

Thirty minutes later, someone shook him on the shoulder.

"Gah! Don't do that!"

"We have to go," Wolf said quietly. He knew how much Seal's death had shaken everyone up.

"Why?"

"I don't know, it's something to do with Alex at the hospital."

"Well let's go then!"

-XD-

A doctor was waiting for them when they arrived. "I'm afraid that there is bad news about Alex."

All four men waited for the diagnosis. "He is in what we call the locally advanced stage, or stage three. This is when the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes in the chest between the heart and lungs. Unfortunately, some blood vessels are infected, probably from the treatment his body was put through and the setting of said treatment."

Snake asked quietly, "We know that he had an estimate, but how much longer should he be able to survive, if he doesn't make it?"

"That depends on whether or not he goes into stage four. His right lung has the cancer, and stage four would be when it spreads to the other lung and then throughout his entire body. If so, then there is no chance of saving him."

That statement dampened the K-Unit's already sober mood.

Wolf remembered to ask, "Where is Alex now?"

"He's in the operating room now. They're going to try to remove the cancer before it can spread any more than it already has. This operation can be the deciding point. If it is successful, he'll still be in danger for the next six months or so, but the chances will be slim. If they don't succeed, well," the doctor sighed. He looked tired. "Alex will go into stage four. He will not survive- or, rather, it's a one-in-a-million chance. Only ten percent of people survive after being diagnosed as stage four. Signs of stage four are persistent coughing and coughing up blood."

He paused for a minute and looked at K-Unit. "We have found traces of PCP in his system. Can any of you explain that? It has definitely worsened his condition."

The doctors had all already signed the Official Secrets Act, so Ben had nothing to lose there. The story just brought up painful memories.

Quickly, he explained what had gone down just weeks earlier, about the Salesman and the angel dust.

The doctor shook his head sadly. "That is very unfortunate. Why does everything bad happen to that boy?"

Snake, being the 'smart' medic, piped up. "How will the traces of PCP react with the cancer?"

"It's hard to tell. We really haven't encountered a situation like this ever before. By now, the traces are small and hard to track. But it has made his lungs more infected."

"When will he get out of surgery?"

"He's been in there about…" he checked his watch. "About an hour. He will be out in at most three to four hours. It just depends. "

The doctor, Dr. Osbourne, paused and licked his lips. "We won't exactly know if the surgery is a success until about a week after…"

"Okay. Thanks," Ben said, refusing to get choked up yet over nothing.

The doctor's glance swept over the four men one last time, and then he left, presumably to go back into the operating room.

And so K-Unit, plus one, waited.

-XD-

_Countdown: 19 days_

It had been a good week. The surgery had went fine- but the question was, was the cancer gone?

K-Unit had had a chance to ask Alex about the PCP after the surgery was done. It had been an emotional talk.

-XD-

_Countdown: 26 days_

"_Why, Alex?" Ben asked. "Why did you take the PCP? Why didn't you just come to me?"_

_Alex smiled ruefully. "You weren't exactly being the best of people, Ben. It was just…I was angsting and what Rat had offered me seemed so much better than facing reality."_

_He paused, but thought of something else. "Where is Zlo right now?"_

"_Zlo?"_

"_Oh, well…that was what he told me to call him at the…place."_

"_Oh. Well, he's being held at MI6 under high security." _**[1]**

"…" _Everyone was silent for a moment, taking the information in._

_Suddenly, Alex reached up to the best of his ability and hugged Ben._

"_Thank you so much," he mumbled into the older man's hair._

"_For what, Alex?"_

"_For being there for me."_

"_Um…Alex?" Wolf asked cautiously, not wanting to interrupt the moment._

"_Yes, Wolf?"_

"_Well…I…"_

"_Please just spit it out, will you?"_

"…_Iadoptedyou."_

"_What?"_

"_I. Adopted. You." _**[2]**

_There was silence. Then, Ben spoke up._

"_Does that mean I have to call you 'dad'?"_

-XD-

_Countdown: 19 days_

It was finally time. Time to find out the results of the surgery.

K-Unit and Ben were all sitting in Alex's room, waiting tensely, hearts pounding.

Finally, the doctor came in, holding a few white sheets of paper.

"Alex, I know this has been a hard time for you."

The teen on the bed nodded, too choked up to answer verbally.

"Well, now is as good a time as ever to tell you the results of the surgery."

K-Unit couldn't read the man's face. It could be either answer and they would still be surprised either way.

"The surgery went well, and…"

-XD-

**[1] No, I'm not doing as sequel where Zlo breaks free and hunts Alex down. I know that is ALWAYS what happen, but not this time.**

**[2] I was about to put that Ben had adopted Alex, but then I remembered something. They Are. Going. Out. That wouldn't work. It would technically be incest. And since some of the readers barely tolerate slash, that would not be good for the review count...**

**The next chapters are the last ones! Remember, I'm doing two separate chapters, one where he lives, one where he doesn't.**

**Please Review! A minute of your time for hours of mine!**

**Tigertopaz- Titanium Banana**


	19. Five Minutes to a Lifetime

**WARNING: Depressing stuff and a short chapter ahead! If you like being depressed, read slowly and take the details. If you don't like being depressed….Well, you should probably skip this chapter. :)**

**Disclaimer: See Chappies 1-4.**

**Now introducing...*drumroll***

**Three Months to Forever Chapter 18-1: Five Minutes to a Lifetime**

_Countdown: 19 days_

_3:00_

"…and I'm sincerely sorry to say that the operation wasn't enough. Alex has gone into stage four."

Dead silence.

…

Ben couldn't describe how he was feeling.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. If someone took a picture of the scene before them, they wouldn't have been able to say one thing about the grief palpable in the white room.

"I-" he tried, and his voice broke. "I have to go."

With a sinking heart, he wheeled himself out of the room. Everyone froze- if it were possible to freeze while already have been frozen.

It was five minutes before anyone dare say anything.

"That arsehole," Wolf muttered. "I have to go find him. I'll- I'll be right back." Without a backward glance at the broken teen on the bed, he walked, no, half-ran out of the room, presumably to find Ben.

But the other occupants in the room weren't paying a grain of attention to Wolf _or_ Ben. They were all staring at the desolate fair-haired teen they had come to know and love. Alex seemed so small at that moment, dwarfed by the white of the bed sheets.

"I…I need some time alone, I think." Alex whispered so softly that they could barely hear him.

Sensing that for once, comforting words wouldn't be enough, Snake said simply, "Okay, Alex."

And Snake, Eagle, and the doctor left.

-XD-

_With Ben and Wolf_

_3:10_

Wolf finally found Ben in one of the visiting rooms, coffee cup in a hand, head cradled in the other.

"Ben?" he asked almost timidly, walking closer to his ex-teammate and friend.

Said man lifted his head, and Wolf was surprised to see tear-tracks stain Ben's cheeks. MI6 agents were supposed to be emotionless. But this one wasn't.

"I know this is hard-," he started, but was interrupted.

"How would you know?" Ben asked, his voice cracking. Wolf felt his heart breaking at the mere four words coming from one of the strongest people he knew- bar Alex. Dammit! This whole ordeal was turning him into a softie.

"I don't know, not really," he admitted. "But I can damn well guess. We were all close to him. Certainly not as close as you, but close enough to care deeply."

"It's just hard," Ben admitted. "I'll hate having to see him again, knowing that he is closer to death with every second that ticks by."

Wolf watched him for a moment. He had never seen Ben break down. Not like this.

"But aren't we all? Everyone dies eventually- except that for some…it comes sooner than expected."

Ben sniffed lightly. He knew he was acting like a sissy. Suddenly, he chuckled.

"What?" Wolf asked.

"What the hell did we do to piss off God?"

-XD-

_At the same time…_

"Why does this always happen to him?" Eagle asked, more to himself than anyone else.

Snake just shook his head.

They hadn't gone searching for Wolf and Ben. Instead, they were on the fifth floor of the hospital, away from the room, away from Alex, away from reality.

Luckily, even though he was drinking coffee, Eagle wasn't hyper. Thank god for small miracles.

They sat there for a long while, drowning in their thoughts. Eventually, Snake asked, "So what now?"

"We need to find out how- how much time Cub has left," Eagle said, voice strangely hard and steely. Snake knew that that was the other man's way of hiding his true emotions.

"O-Okay."

-XD-

_With Alex_

_3:20_

When Snake and Eagle got back into the hospital, Wolf and Ben were already there. Alex was asleep now, despite it only being mid-afternoon.

"How's he doing?" Eagle asked softly.

Wolf glared. "As well as someone who's just been told that they're going to die."

"Wolf, calm down," Ben tried to say. "It's not his fault."

"But it _is _MI6's fault."

"Screw MI6, we're here for Alex right now."

"How long has he been asleep?" Snake asked, concerned.

"Well," Ben responded, "I don't really know. He was sleeping when he came in."

As they all stared at Alex, they noticed…

"Tear tracks?"

It was unlike Alex to actually show the signs of his breakdown. Usually, he would just wipe his eyes and pretend to get over it.

Suddenly, the teen began thrashing and whimpering, making the bed sheets twist around him.

"Jack…" he moaned quietly. "No…don't…."

"Alex, wake up," Ben commanded in what he hoped was a stern voice. Just like he'd hoped, Alex stilled and sat up wearily.

"Why can't I get some sleep?" he complained. Damn, why couldn't he get actual sleep once in his life without the bastards of his past haunting him?

"It's only three o'clock, Alex," Eagle 'helpfully' reminded.

They all just glared at him.

"Whaaat?"

-XD-

_5:30_

Two weeks and four days later, Alex was very depressed. Sure, K-Unit and Ben were being supportive, but seriously. He was _dying_.

At least they were helpful. Every one of them came and visited him every day for a while, alone or not.

But the _pain_. It hurt to bloody _breathe_, for God's sake! It shouldn't be this hard to die! At least if he'd died on a mission, it would be fast.

He'd slipped into a coma a few times, for a few days or so. It had passed the time, at least. Of course, he'd had to endure a sad and sobbing [in Eagle's case, but Alex was sure he was faking] K-Unit.

At least his classmates seemed to care. Well, Tom did, anyway. He's stopped by a few times, looking awkward. He never was good at this kind of stuff, Alex thought. Brooklyn had sent him cards, which for once were genuine, surprisingly. Or maybe not, considering that the principle, Mr. Bray, had paid him a visit. Apparently he had passed the "genuinely sick and about to die" test.

But unusually, no one had visited yet. Not today. Huh.

One of the nurses came to his room, holding a tray of steaming-hot food. "Hey Alex. I know it's going to be hard to swallow this, but please try, okay?" She pushed the knob on the side of the bed until he was in a sitting position, then handed him the tray.

"Thanks," he croaked out. Damn, he didn't sound like himself! He took a long drink out of the cup of water by his bedside, gulping the substance down.

She smiled brightly at him and left. It seemed like _every_ nurse in the whole damn hospital liked to mother him, for some reason. Ben had certainly teased him enough about it.

The meal today seemed to be mashed potatoes and meatloaf. **[1]**

He took one bite of the potatoes and immediately spit it back out. "Argh!" The bloody things had burnt his tongue.

-XD-

_11:54_

Alex felt so…so…weak. Technically, tomorrow he was supposed to, well, _die_.

It felt like he couldn't _talk_. His lungs felt like sandpaper covered with spikes.

Alex had had strep throat when he was smaller [scaring Ian and Jack to death], but it was nothing like this.

The nurse hadn't noticed one vital thing.

When she'd taken the plate back, it had been missing a vital piece of cutlery. **[2]**

A knife, to be specific.

He knew it was a bad habit- to say the least. But wasn't he supposed to die soon, if his throat was any indication?

It was now 11:55. Perfect time to die, right? He supposed that he hid his feelings perfectly, courtesy of MI6, because no one suspected a thing about what he was about to do.

This time, he wasn't going to half-ass this.

Silently, and with what strength he had, he went over to the ledge by the window. Alex wanted a good view for when he died.

The machines weren't a problem, for Alex had tampered with them earlier, making it seem like there was nothing wrong.

Alex looked at the knife in his right hand, and to the visible vein in his wrists.

He took as deep as a breath as his damaged lungs would allow him…and carefully slit his left, then right, wrists right where the vitally important veins were.

-XD-

_11:57_

Ben knew it was late, but he was at the hospital anyway, even though his wheelchair made it difficult.

He took the elevator up to the right floor, and began wheeling his way down the long, white hallways.

Ben found himself in front of Alex's room, and the sight inside nearly made his heart stop.

Alex was sitting by the window, leaning against the smooth glass and staring at the city that surrounded the area. But that wasn't the problem. The problem was his wrists.

Blood was seeping down his arms- both of them. The left wrist's cut seemed to be precise, while the other was jagged, which made Ben assume that he had cut the right with his already slit wrist. The thought nearly made him shrivel up and die. That's what his soul felt like it was doing on the inside.

Quickly, he wheeled over to Alex's side, who, of course, had noticed him by now.

"Ben…" he rasped. The sound was horrible, as if Alex had a desert's worth of sand down his throat. **[3]**

"Alex!" Ben whisper-yelled. "What have you done?" He wheeled over to the bed, determined to press the "Emergency" button on Alex's bedside.

"Ben, no."

That voice stopped him. It had a sense of finality. Like Alex had accepted his fate. With a heavy heart, Ben wheeled back over to the dying teenager.

With great effort, he lifted himself carefully onto the ledge beside Alex. Screw the damn wheelchair.

"Alex…why?" he asked quietly, drawing Alex up flush against his chest. **[?]**

"I'll…die anyway," the teen admitted. Ben had never thought of the incredible person in front of him as a boy. He had seen far too much for that.

Ben didn't have a response to that. Instead, he just drew Alex closer to him, and they looked at the city below them.

-XD-

_11:59_

It was 11:59, and Ben could tell that Alex's time was almost up. Blood stained both of them, whether it be on their skin or clothes. The teen was pale, too pale. In this state, he looked almost like a vampire, only lacking the teeth.

"Ben…"

Alex twisted around to look at Ben properly.

"Yes, Alex?" said man asked him.

With what looked like a tremendous amount of pain, fought by willpower, Alex said in one, breathy rush, "Thanks for taking me in. Thanks for helping me. …Thank you for everything, Ben Daniels." He finished with a half-smile.

Said man had uncharacteristic tears in his eyes as he saw his, well…_lover_ take his final breaths. "You're welcome Alex Rider."

The fair-haired teen's eyes were sliding close, ad Ben could feel his breathing slowing, growing shallower and shallower by the second.

The last words Alex Rider would ever say in his all-too-short, tragic life were, "I love you."

Tears streaked down Ben's face in torrents as he said, sobbing, "I love you too."

Alex's eyes closed for the last time.

And at 12:00 midnight, Alex Jonathan Rider, teen spy extraordinaire, died in the arms of Ben Daniels.

-XD-

…**Is everyone fully depressed now? Good. I'll leave it up to you all to imagine the memorial/funeral service, as my muse is completely shot.**

**This was REALLY mushy. I tried to make it so it wasn't TOO "unicorns and rainbows and butterflies," but I'm not sure I succeeded…**

**I really had to drag myself through this chapter. I just kept telling myself "FINISH THE STORY, STUPID! OR ELSE YOU WILL NOT GET TO START NEW ONES!"**

**[1] YUM! Two of my favorite foods! I hungry…**

**[2] Isn't that a fun word to say? Cutlery…**

**[3] This shouldn't be funny, but try to rasp, "Ben" out loud. It sounds like Yoda on drugs…Weird.**

**Please Review! It took a **_**long**_** time for me to dredge up the unhappiness it took to write this. Have you noticed I'm better at writing funny stuff? I even try to make jokes in the scene where Alex is dying, [however underhanded] for God's sake! *Sigh…***

**Tigertopaz- Titanium Banana**

**PS: DO NOT DESPAIR! THE HAPPY ENDING SHALL BE UPLOADED SOON-ISH! Well, as soon as humanly possible. **


	20. What You Make of It

**Disclaimer: Not mine D:**

**Now Introducing…*drumroll***

**Three Months to Forever Epilogue: What You Make of It**

It had been three long, everlasting months since Alex had died. And all who had known the teen had suffered.

Alex's story had been broadcast throughout the world. Even the part about MI6.

Of course, several details had been left out for the sake of security, such as names, locations, and what not. But the damage had been done. Alan Blunt and Tulip Jones were dismissed from duty, thoroughly disgraced. No tears were shed for them.

Sabina had contacted Ben soon after the story had broken; using the number Alex had conveniently provided her. She, understandably, had been very upset, and gave her condolences to Ben.

Brecon Beacons had a rare day off, and a memorial service to honor the boy who had never had a chance to live a normal life.

Meanwhile, Jack Starbright had been found in Italy. It turned out she had run to Scorpia in hopes of getting revenge on the family that had 'ruined her life'- or so she said. Jack had gone mad. She would be living out the rest of her days in a mental institution.

Obviously, Ben Daniels had suffered the most. But he was never alone. K-Unit was with him the whole time. The missing presence of Alex, it seemed, had put a damper on their usually cheerful mood.

But life would turn up, eventually.

-XD-

"Hey, Alex," Ben half-grinned, but shivered. Autumn was attacking with a vengeance.

"I know I've been…not the most cheerful person these last couple of months. And I know sure as hell that you would tell me to get off my lazy ass and do something."

Alex's gravestone was plain, dull even. But Ben knew Alex would want it that way. After living a life of secrets, the teen would appreciate the normality of it.

It read:

**Alex Rider  
**Say not in grief: "He is no more," but live in thankfulness that he was.

Ben wasn't too sure about the inscription, but it was true. 'Tis better to live than to not live at all.

And anyway, Ben would not left grief get the better of him. Not anymore, unlike so many times before in the last three months.

He would quit MI6 and find a new job. Something fun. He deserved to have a break. There would be more trauma in the times to come, but Ben wouldn't let that destroy him.

After all, life is what you make of it.

-XD-

EDITED AND BETA'D (by me): 11-29-2011

Please Review! A minute of your time for hours of mine!

**Tigertopaz- Titanium Banana**


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